Daughters of Osiris
by mskairijade
Summary: Destiny Trilogy Book 2: Draco and Hermione have overcome several obstacles, including the death of a loved one. Can their love continue to grow or will new obstacles stand in their way? Trilogy now completed
1. Prologue

**A/N: Well hello again! I've finally finished the first chapter, well prologue at least, of the second part of the series which I have decided to title Destiny...not sure if I'll keep it or not but that's what I'm calling it for now lol. If anyone has a different title for it, please suggest away! Who knows, maybe someone's creative mind will kick in and give me a wonderful title. For those new readers, you should probably read the first part before this one because you may be truly lost at some of the things that have happened in the last year of the story. The first part is titled Kindred Spririts...please make sure you read that one first before you try to read this one.**

**As before, please review! It's you readers that keep me writing and make me want to finish...without your wonderful words of encouragement, I would probably just give up and throw the rest out the window! Oh and just like before remember---no one is twisting your arm or forcing you to read this so if you dont like it or think it just plain sucks...well then just dont read it! Dont show your distaste by leaving flaming reviews because, well it's just rather pointless isnt it? Also remember that critiques, well creative critisism is always welcomed and please if you see anything that you think should be changed** **_(aside from certain characters deaths...Sorry! I still cant change that!--those of you who read Kindred Spirits know what I'm talking about (wink) lol)_ please dont hesitate to let me know!**

**So without further adu, I give you part 2...!**

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_**Daughters of Osiris**_

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_**Prologue: **_

**Flashback** (this took place between part one and two)

_The graduation ceremony had just finished and everyone was giving their goodbyes and hugging each other. As Hermione talked with Parvati and Padma Patil, a pair of familiar strong arms wound themselves around her waist from behind. Excusing herself from the twin girls, she twirled herself around in his arms and looked up into those brilliant silver-blue eyes that she loved so much. Crushing their lips together in a passionate kiss, Draco pulled her slowly away from the crowds of people. Pulling away from her lips, he took her hand in his and led her down towards the Quidditch pitch which was currently empty as everyone was mostly in the Great Hall._

"_Draco, where are you taking me?" Hermione asked curiously, smiling happily at her boyfriend. Draco just looked at her with a familiar gleam in his eyes which told her that he was definitely up to something._

_When they reached the pitch, Hermione gasped lightly when she saw a wonderful picnic set up in the middle of the field. As they reached it, Draco pulled her down beside him on the Slytherin green blanket and handed her a magically chilled glass of champagne. Taking a small drink, Draco weaved his hand gently around her neck and pulled her close to him in another earth-shattering kiss. With her eyes closed and her lips joined with his, she didn't noticed his other hand pulling a deep black velvet box from his dress robe pocket. Smiling into her lips, he pulled back from her slightly._

" '_Mione, for the past year you have taught me so many things that I never imagined possible. You showed me the true meaning of friendship, loyalty, bravery and most of all you taught me what it means to love. You forgave me for everything I'd ever done out of stupidity and embraced me into your life with open arms. I have never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would ever find someone that I love as much as I love you right now. I cannot imagine my life without you in it and if I were ever to lose you, I think I would lose my mind." _

_Draco told her, sitting up a little straighter, pulling the box into her sight and slowly opening the lid to show her it's contents. Hermione's eyes lit up and Draco watched as silent tears suddenly sprang to her eyes._

"_Hermione Jane Granger, will you marry me?" Hermione looked up from the box to his eyes several times, the smile growing larger on her beautiful face and the tears of joy brimming over. Surprising him slightly, she suddenly lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck tightly._

"_Oh my gods! Yes Draco, yes I will! I love you." Her lips met his with heated intensity. Breaking back momentarily, Draco pulled the ring from the box and slid it on to her finger._

"_I love you too 'Mione, more than anything in this world." _

_Their lips met again in passion as their tongues danced together in perfect harmony. They soon ravished and claimed each other, mind, body, and soul right there on the Quidditch Pitch until the stars began twinkling high above them just as they were inside the Great Hall were the Commencement Ball was currently in full swing._

**End Flashback**

The newly engaged couple had been through hell and back for the past year. They had battled through Draco's abandoning the Death Eaters and seeking refuge in the arms of the Order. Side by side they fought in the Department of Mysteries, watching Draco kill his own father when Lucius tried to harm Hermione. They had survived a turbulent couple of months when Hermione had been confused and left Draco for the arms of her best friend. They had fought through the trials of Hermione's kidnapping and the battle that perspired at Malfoy Manor. Draco had sat back and watched his love fall apart and submerge herself in depression when the same battle claimed the life of her first love and best friend…hero to the wizarding world, Harry Potter. And now they were faced with an even more turbulent future now that it had been discovered by Hermione (thanks to a letter from their former Headmaster) that Hermione held the key to Voldemort winning the war.

Apparently, during the raid on the Department of Mysteries back in October, a very rare and curious artifact was stolen by Voldemort. At the time, it was perceived, not only by the Order members themselves, but the Unspeakables working there as well, that it was simply a very peculiar, thick, granite tablet. It had small writings on it but, even with the immense resources in the possession of the Unspeakables that worked their, no one had been able to decipher exactly WHAT the writings were or what language even, let alone decipher what the writings said. It was soon discovered, however, that it definitely was a very peculiar tablet indeed. In fact, it was not really a tablet at all but an ancient granite tomb of sorts that housed the most cherished and powerful book known in the history of the wizarding world…the Egyptian Book of Ani, more widely known in myths and legends as the great Book of the Dead.

According to the legends that surround this book, it was encased in a magical granite tomb that could only be opened by someone who was directly related to the original owner…non other than the great Egyptian God, the Lord of the Afterlife, Osiris himself. Somehow, through many, many generations, the line had greatly diminished. There was now only one sole heir to Osiris as it stands….one Hermione Granger, to be exact. And now that Voldemort had gained possession of this elusive tomb encased book, his goal to eternal life was now clear….find Hermione and force her to open it for him.

So far, Voldemort's efforts have been squashed. His first attempt ended with Hermione's rescue from Malfoy Manor where the Dark Lord was holding her captive after his Death Eaters had kidnapped her straight from her Head Girl room at Hogwarts. This led to a great battle at said Manor, ending in the death of her best friend, Harry. The blood-traitor (aka Draco Malfoy, Hermione's now fiancé), with help from Harry, Ron and other members of the Order of the Phoenix had burst in to their lair and rescued the young muggle-born heiress, thwarting Voldemort's attempt at 'persuading' young Miss Granger to do his bidding.

None of that was currently on Hermione's mind at the present time, however. Right now, the only thing on her mind was feeling her new fiancé's arms tightly around her as his platinum blonde locks shone in the moonlight while he slept deeply and contently next to her in their bed.

After graduation, Hermione and Draco had bought (well more like Draco had bought) a small but elegant manor on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. Obviously not been able to move back into his family's manor, the couple found this lovely home and Hermione immediately fell in love with it's Victorian look. She had almost immediately set forth to decorate and remodel the new home to make it truly their own. Hermione was determined to keep the Victorian aspect of the house in tact and therefore almost all of the ten rooms in the lavish home were decorated in intricate details and colors of the Victorian era. Even their bedroom had a Victorian touch to it but the colors were far from the soft colors of the era. Instead, she had decided that the bedroom would house the most intimate connections from herself and her husband-to-be. There were beautifully done expressions of black, crimson, silver and greens placed intricately and delicately throughout the room. Their lavish king sized bed was dressed in deep crimson satin sheets were adorned with intricate silver dragons and other oriental decors and were topped by the softest most luscious black satin comforter galleons could buy. Each surface of the room was a deep mahogany wood, from the desks to the wardrobes. All the handles in the room were golden daggers surrounded by silver serpents (something that Draco had thought to be perfect to represent the two of them). So far the home was perfectly happy, exactly what Hermione had always dreamed of. She felt like a princess in a beautiful castle and Draco made sure everyday that she felt like the queen he thought she was.

For the past three months, Draco had been doing everything in his power to get Hermione to relax and enjoy as much as possible. She had had a very turbulent and depressing year and he thought she deserved to have some fun and just enjoy life for awhile. He knew about who and what she was, having been with her when she read the letter from their late headmaster, but he was bound and determined that he was not going to let the position she was in destroy her life, as it had with Harry. Draco had made sure their were every sort of protection ward and charm on their house as wizardly possible, from anti-apparation and de-apparation wards that did not permit apparation within the manor to ensuring that the only fireplaces in the manor that were connected to the Floo network were in the living room and their joint study on the first floor and that both of those rooms were charmed to set off an alarm if anyone other than those who the couple approved were to Floo into them. He wasn't taking any chance on a repeat of Hermione's kidnapping happen again, definitely not in their own home.

As Hermione opened her eyes that morning she remembered that it was September 1...the day that, for every year since she was almost 12 years old had marked the return to Hogwarts. It felt mildly strange to her that she would no longer be taking that journey. Sure she felt it when she left there with her new fiancé back in June, but for some reason, it seemed to hit her completely now and she felt a small, lone tear slide from her eye as she remembered all the wonderful times she had went through there. Then her mind began to wander towards the future and what Voldemort was planning to do with her and what she would have to do to keep him from obtaining his goal…though she still wasn't sure exactly what that was going to be. It had become habit for her mind to wander about that. She tried her best to keep up the happy façade during the day, not wanting to let Draco know that she was constantly thinking about it but it was getting harder…she knew that she would have to start working and researching some more and coming up with some sort of plan, along with the Order of course and it would have to be soon. Just as her thoughts were starting to take her over, she heard a stirring beside her and snapped back to reality to find those piercing ice-blue eyes that she loved so much staring right back into hers.

"Morning, love." Draco said sleepily, staring into her honey-brown eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much, sweetheart," Hermione lied. "Just thinking about what an interesting year this is going to be…it's September 1 you know. The day we'd normally be on the train back to Hogwarts."

"Yep that it is. As for the year, well I think it'll be an interesting life now. After all, you are soon going to be the next Mrs. Malfoy." Draco replied, beaming in his sleepy state.

Hermione smiled slightly, her eyes trying to mask her worry that was deep inside.

_Yes Draco,_ she thought to herself._ Something tells me this will be a very interesting life..._


	2. Back to Normal?

_**Chapter One: Back to Normal?**_

After breakfast that morning, Draco had told Hermione to get dressed because he was going to take her out for the day. Hermione was up in their bedroom getting ready when she heard a tapping on the window. She went over and opened the window to let the large tawny owl flutter through and watched it land on her bedpost. She went over and patted the owl's head, untying the letter from it's leg. Conjuring a small bowl with water for the owl, she flipped the letter over and noticed a familiar seal and quickly tore it open. Hermione gasped excitedly when she read the contents.

_Dear Miss Granger_

_I hope that this letter finds you doing well. It has come to my attention just this morning that Professor Slughorn has decided to go back into retirement after the war is over, which could be any time for all we know. We, Professor Slughorn and myself, have decided that it was time to start training a replacement for him just in case. After careful consideration of his past students, Prof. Slughorn has decided that you would make a great candidate for a Potions Mistress. He said that you were one of the best potions students he could ever remember having in his classroom and Hogwarts would be honored to have you as one of our staff._

_We do realize that you have recently become engaged to Mr. Malfoy and have even more recently moved into a new home. With this in mind, we have decided to change the normal circumstances a bit and allow Mr. Malfoy to accompany you to Hogwarts during the school year._

_Please send the owl back with a response as soon as possible so that we can begin preparations for your arrival…if you choose to accept the offer. I look forward to seeing my brightest pupil return to the school._

_Sincerely  
Minerva McGonagall_

_Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Hermione stared at the parchment in her hands for a moment, letting the words sink in. After a moment, her thin lips began forming a wide smile. Jotting a quick reply to McGonagall to let her know that she needed to discuss it with Draco first, she tied it quickly to the owl waiting impatiently on her bedpost and dashed out the door and down the stairs to tell Draco of the good news.

She finally found him sitting in his study, reading a book while waiting for her. He looked up shocked when he heard her burst into the room.

" 'Mione, sweetheart, I thought you were getting dressed?" He asked pointedly, gazing at her skimpy nightgown that still hung over her body.

"Oh my god, I totally forgot! I kind of got side tracked when this came for me." She smiled excitedly and thrust the parchment into her fiancé's hand.

Draco looked at her curiously and started reading the letter she just thrust into his hands. His facial features contorted from concentration to wide-eyed as he read over the words from their former Headmistress. He glanced up at Hermione's beaming face, back down to the parchment and up a few more times before finally opening his mouth to speak.

"You've got to be kidding me right, 'Mione?" Draco asked.

"What do you mean? It's wonderful! I cant believe they asked me!" Hermione exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips in the normal Miss-Know-It-All fashion that everyone knew too well.

"You cant possibly be considering this!" Draco exclaimed back to her, a small tinge of anger and resentment filling his voice unconsciously. "We were stuck there for the last seven years, Hermione! What happened to 'relax for bit'?"

"What do you mean I cant possibly be considering it?" Hermione shot back, her tone rising slightly at the audacity of her fiancé to say such things. "Of course I'm considering it Draco! Do you know how much of an honor it is?"

"And what about 'us' 'Mione? Have you even stopped to think about that? We're just starting our lives together…_FINALLY _able to be together without anyone watching our every move and now you just want to up and go back to the same place we've been for the last _SEVEN YEARS_!" Draco yelled back at her, jumping up from his chair.

"Is that all you think about? _Yourself_? In case you didn't notice, she offered for you to accompany me! We would be going together!" Hermione yelled, her temper flaring.

"And what if I don't want to go back there again! You just going to leave me here to start your own life? There are way too many memories in that bloody castle for me, and many of them I don't care to relive again any time soon!" Draco was getting furious at this point.

_How could she want to go back to that blasted castle already? How could she even fathom that I'd want to go back?_ Draco thought angrily to himself. His last comments found himself in a place where he'd only really been one other time and really had no desire to ever be again in his entire life---staring down the shaft of Hermione's wand which was now pointed directly at him.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy! Everything in this world is not about _YOU_! What about _ME_? _HUH_? What about what **_I_** want? Have you stopped to think about that? Of course not because you're too busy being the self-conceited prat you've always been!" Hermione screamed at him, waving her wand dangerously around in front of Draco, her anger overwhelming her, turned on her heel and stormed from the room…her head still fuming.

Draco just stood there watching her storm from the room, his own head still spinning from there fight. He threw his arms up in frustration and started pacing the room, trying desperately to calm his nerves before going after her to talk things out. That was the first fight they'd had in a very long time and he did not like it, not one little bit. He just couldn't fathom how she could seem so overjoyed about the prospect of returning to that hell-hole that they'd been locked up in for the past seven years not even three full months since they'd finally been released from it. How could she want to just up and leave him for nine long months after they'd worked so hard to finally be able to be together, with no one telling them how to act or what they were and were not 'supposed' to be doing?

Finally settling his emotions down to a reasonable level, he walked steadily from the study and headed towards the staircase to their room. He was just about to the stairs when he heard a slamming door and the sound of angry footsteps pounding down the stairs towards him. Looking up, he saw Hermione thundering down the stairs in a snug pair of muggle jeans and a tight fitting, blue midriff top. She obviously looked like she was still pissed off and if he didn't move quickly, he'd end up being trampled on so he moved to the side just as she passed him hurriedly.

" 'Mione, where are you going? We need to talk about this!" He hollered slightly at her retreating form as it stormed past him, not even looking in his direction as she headed towards the front door. Rushing after her, he caught her arm just before she was able to step across the threshold of their house.

"Let. Go. Of. Me. Malfoy. I am in no mood to talk to the likes of a selfish prat such as yourself at the moment." Hermione snarled at him, yanking her arm from his grip and rushing through the gaping front door.

Grabbing her arm once again, slightly harder this time, he spun her back around and was immediately connected with her hand as she slapped him, hard, right across the face. He loosened his grip involuntarily but before he could recover, she was down the front steps and Apparating away with a loud, deafening, POP. He stood there in the front entry for what felt like an hour (but was really a couple minutes) staring at the spot where she had just stood. Bowing his head in defeat, he turned and silently closed the door, his mind racing with thoughts that he didn't want to even think about.

_Gods, what in the bloody hell just happened?_ He thought to himself as he made his way through the lower level and up the stairs towards their bedroom. Draco considered simply trying to send a telepathic message to her to apologize but he thought it might be wiser if he let her cool off first. Staggering wearily, as arguing with her always wore him out, he entered their room and instinctively fell on the bed, his eyes closing in a defeated sleep, hoping that she would be there when he awoke.

An hour later, Hermione arrived back at their new home. She had taken a long walk around muggle London, putting her thoughts in order. She decided that regardless of whether or not she was truly going to take the position offered, she couldn't be with someone who wasn't fully supportive of her. So, setting her resolve, she apparated back to the house and softly made her way up to their bedroom and packed up a few things that she would need. She watched him sleeping peacefully on their bed as she laid a note down on the bedside table and walked from the house. Hermione had decided that she was going to get a room in Hogsmeade for a few days while she decided what to do.

Back at their home, Draco awoke slowly from his nap. He listened quietly for a moment, hoping to hear Hermione moving around somewhere in the house. Hearing nothing, he sighed to himself and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Just before he stood up, a rolled letter on his bedside table caught his eye. He reached over and picked up the letter just as a sparkling silver trinket fell from it. Standing up and kneeling down, he picked it up and gasped at what it was….Hermione's engagement ring. His heart leapt into his throat as he slowly dropped to the floor and read the letter.

_My Dearest Draco_

_I'm sorry to just leave like this but I could stand to fight with you again. I havent decided whether or not I am going to take the job but after this morning I realized it doesn't matter. The fight we had this morning made me realize that I can not be with someone, no matter how much I may love them, if they arent fully supportive of me and respect my wants and desires. It broke my heart when you seemed to not care what I wanted and you weren't even happy for me. All you could think about was how it would effect you and I just cant live like that._

_I will always love you Draco, you are everything to me. I am staying at the inn in Hogsmeade for a few days. If you desire to speak with me for any reason, you know where I'll be._

_All my love always_

_Hermione_

Draco felt his heart breaking as he read over her words again. He hadn't realized what he was doing that morning and never in a million years did he want her to feel that he didn't love and support her. Suddenly he jumped to his feet. Putting the ring in his pocket as he dashed down the stairs and out the front door, he apparated quickly to Hogsmeade. There was no way in hell he was letting her go that easily.


	3. A Close Call and A New Surprise

**A/N: I am still writing feverishly trying desperately to get as far as possible with this story. I'm not sure if I mentioned before but I am moving unexpectedly in less then 2 weeks time and unfortunately will not have access to a computer for an unknown amount of time. I promise to get as much of this story done as I can before that time and will continue writing and posting as often as I can. I hope that you all will keep an eye out and not lose hope.

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****_Chapter Two: A Close Call and a New Surprise_**

Hermione sat on the bed of her rented room in the Inn in Hogsmeade. Her heart was aching after what she had just done. It took all her will power not to apparate right back to the house and tell Draco she was sorry for leaving. She flopped backwards on the bed and stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with everything that was going on in her life. She had just started to drift off to sleep laying there when she heard the soft sound of people Apparating outside her room. Shooting her eyes open at the sound, she quickly and silently reached for her wand when suddenly the door to her room was blasted from it's frame and three Death Eaters entered. Hermione jumped to her feet on the other side of the bed opposite from the door and pointed her wand at the intruders. The three Death Eaters began firing curses in her direction, with her ducking and dodging as many as possible. Finally, one connected with her in the chest as she was dodging another and she was blasted into the wall behind her, her head connecting with the stone wall with a sickening crack, knocking her half unconscious. As she faded in and out of alertness, she saw a glimpse of one of her attackers standing over her pointing their wands at her chest and muttering a spell that she didn't quite hear. Her eyes widened for a moment before the curse struck her and her world went black.

Draco arrived at the Inn that Hermione had designated in her letter and before he could walk into the lobby he heard a loud commotion of blasting curses coming from down the hall. Rushing down the hall towards the sounds, he reached the room just in time to see a Death Eater leaning over Hermione's motionless body and a flash of purple light stream from the Death Eater's wand into Hermione's chest. As he watched, the Death Eater turned towards the door where Draco was standing and gave him an evil laugh before Apparating along with the other two that Draco didn't even notice were standing to the side. Immediately, Draco rushed forward to the now unconscious Hermione laying limply on the floor of the room. He kneeled down beside her and gently lifted her into his arms, her head flopping backwards limply.

"Hermione, come on baby…wake up sweetheart…please…" Draco pleaded with her in his arms, one hand gently pushing the hair from her face. He felt the tears swelling up behind his eyes as he noticed the small puddle of blood from where her head was laying just a moment ago on the floor. He smacked her cheek slightly as he pleaded with her to wake up.

" 'Mione, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid…" Draco mumbled clutching her closer to his chest when he was interrupted by a soft voice.

"Draco? Draco I'm sorry. I love you…" Hermione whispered softly, her eyes opening slightly before she collapsed once again into his arms and lost consciousness.

Draco wrapped her closer to him again and allowed a few stray tears to fall from his eyes as he apparated to the St. Mungo's waiting room. Rushing past the crowd of witches and wizards waiting he forced his way to the greeter.

"Please, she needs to see a Healer NOW!" Draco roared to the greeter witch who looked up and seeing the woman laying limply in his arms immediately sent a message to the closest Healer. After only a few seconds, a tall, brown haired man with a small scar on his chin came bursting through the waiting room doors and rushed over to where Draco was still standing.

"What happened to her?" the Healer asked as he pulled Draco down the corridor swiftly.

"I don't really know. I found her in her hotel room with someone standing over her. There was a small flash of purple light and then the attackers apparated out. She's been unconscious for the past fifteen minutes only waking up once for like a few seconds. Please, is she going to be alright?" Draco rambled on to the Healer as he was ushered into a private room and instructed to lay Hermione on the clean white bed. The Healer went through all the regular information, like her age, name etcetera and then ushered Draco out to the hallway.

Draco paced up and down the corridor for the next hour watching the Healers rush in and out of Hermione's room hurriedly. He was growing impatient because no one would tell him what was going on. He thought about going to the floo room and contacting Ron but he couldn't risk leaving the hallway in case something happened. Finally after another hour of pacing back and forth and harassing impatient Healers as to her condition, the main Healer (the one that met him in the waiting room) came out of the room to talk to him.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Healer McKibbon asked, coming up to Draco in the hallway. Draco stopped his pacing and rushed over to where the Healer had just come out of the room. He could tell that Draco had been crying because his pale face was all reddened.

"Miss Granger is going to be just fine. The curse that struck her was a very dark and dangerous one. It should have killed her almost instantly but luckily the baby saved her." Healer McKibbon told him. Draco stared at the Healer awestruck for a moment.

"The ba-baby?" Draco asked stuttering. "What baby?"

"Miss Granger is almost two months pregnant with a little girl. I can assume from your reaction that you were unaware Mr. Malfoy?" the Healer responded. Draco nodded, still in shock.

"Well then I suppose congratulations are in order then. Of course, I'm assuming that you are the father no?" Draco nodded silently again, still not quite grasping what the Healer was telling him.

"Well Miss Granger will need a lot of bed rest for the next couple weeks so be sure that she stays off of her feet. She should be able to go home tomorrow." The Healer walked away leaving Draco staring dumbfounded after him.

After a moment, he walked slowly through the door to Hermione's room. She was lying peacefully on the white bed in the corner of the room, her luscious golden-brown locks splayed out on the pillow around her head. Her eyes were still closed and there was a small scar (about an inch long line) on the side of her head by her left eye. Draco's eyes lingered down to her small waist and as he thought about the little life growing inside her. He sat down by her bedside and took her small hand in his, using his other hand to gently brush her hair out of her angelic face.

" 'Mione, baby, I'm so sorry." He whispered to her sleeping form and felt her hand tighten on his slightly.

Taking the hand that just brushed her hair away, he gently placed the hand on her slim stomach, a small smile playing on his lips. He sat there, just holding her hand and rubbing her stomach softly until darkness filled the room slightly and the scone lights around the room lit softly. He had just laid his head down on the bed by her arm when he heard her faint whisper.

"Draco?" she asked softly, her voice still raspy slightly from the long sleep and the tiring battle she had lost with the Death Eaters just hours before. Draco jumped at her voice slightly.

"Yes, sweetheart, I'm here." Draco replied, squeezing her hand tightly.

"I'm sorry. I never should have left." Hermione's eyes fluttered open slightly and she looked into his deep ice-blue ones that were full of love and concern.

"It's alright baby. You were right, I was being selfish. I just didn't want to think about you leaving me behind. Please forgive me Hermione." Draco said, just as quietly as she was speaking.

"When can I come home?" She asked, a small, weak smile forming on her pale lips.

"They said you could leave tomorrow probably. You really scared us there for awhile. They weren't sure you were going to survive but the Healer said that the…the um…baby saved you." Draco answered. Hermione's eyes shot open at the last part of his comment.

"Baby? You mean…? Oh my god." Hermione sputtered. "You mean we're having a baby? How did I not know?"

"I don't know sweetheart but the Healer said that you were almost two months along. And he also said that it was a…a little girl." Draco told her, his smile broadening at the thought of him being a father.

"Oh my god, Draco. What are we going to do with a baby?" Hermione suddenly shrieked. "We're too young! I'm too young to be a mother! Oh gods, how could this have happened? I've always been so careful."

"Don't, 'Mione. Be happy, this is a happy thing. It doesn't matter that we're young, all that matters is that you and our daughter are safe." Draco said, trying to comfort her obvious fears.

"Safe? That's great Draco but for how long? You cant have possibly forgotten already that Voldemort is still after me! Do you think it was just a coincidence the Death Eaters were attacking me tonight? We cant keep this baby, I cant put my own child in that kind of danger!" Hermione quickly sputtered, jerking up in her hospital bed and wincing slightly in pain at the sudden movement.

"Baby, lets not talk about this right now alright? I almost lost you tonight and right now all I want to do is hold you okay? Just lie back down and rest and we'll discuss this when we get home….you are coming home right?" Draco said, trying to calm her down again.

Hermione obliged, nodding her head slightly to answer his question and lying back down on the bed, closing her eyes once again. Draco stroked her forehead and hair and listened as her breathing deepened signaling that she had finally fallen back asleep. Leaning his forehead down on the bed beside her arm again, he closed his eyes once more and was quickly engulfed by sleep.

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**A/N: hehe I know I had one at the beginning too but here's a chance for my loyal readers to join in with the writing process a little. I need a name for the little girl that is growing inside of Hermione now. Of course, it'll be quite a few chapters before we see the little angel but hey it's always great to be prepared ahead of time (speaking from experience with my second daughter who didnt even get her middle name until she was two days old lol). Here's a couple of my ideas for her name...you can either vote on these or you can submit your own suggestion as well.**

**Alexis Jade Malfoy **

**Natalia Jade Malfoy (hehe can anyone tell that i love the name Jade...after all it is part of my name as well lol!)**


	4. Conversations in London

**A/N: well two votes so far, one of which is a new suggestion by CLynnJ...adding that one, here are the current suggestions to vote on--**

**Alexis Jade Malfoy, Natalia Jade Malfoy, Harmony Liberty Malfoy (reader suggested name) and a new one from me...Vanessa Natalia Malfoy...have at it lol at keep the votes and reviews coming strong!

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_Chapter Three: Conversations in London_ **

A week had gone by since Hermione was released from St. Mungo's and she and Draco had barely spoken. Draco wasn't mad at her and was still pleading with her to forgive him. She had moved back into their home but had yet to put her engagement ring back on. She had fully forgiven him but her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the little girl now growing inside of her. She had thought several times about terminating the pregnancy for fear of her child being endangered if one of Voldemort's minions got hold of her again but something inside her just couldn't do it. She was head over heels in love with Draco and she loved this baby girl but she just couldn't seem to fight off the sickening feeling in the back of her mind that was nagging at her for putting her own child in danger. That was the real reason that she hadn't been speaking to Draco, even though he assumed it was because she was still upset with him over their fight the day she left. Instead of spending the last week giddy and happy at the thought of starting their family, she spent most of her time simply sitting alone in their bedroom and staring off into space allowing her thoughts to overwhelm her.

Today was one of those particularly bad days. She had awoken that morning after having nightmares of her attack which sparked the nightmares she had occasionally of the day Harry was killed to flood back into her sleep. She had dreamt of the night continuously for a few months, almost every single night, after it happened but had gone at least a month or two without the dream until her attack a week prior. Every time she dreamt about it, she would jolt awake, doused in sweat from head to toe and her breathing would be harsh and sporadic. This day she had even refused to get out of bed and allowed herself to stay tucked in a tight ball under her blankets, crying periodically and slipping in and out of sleep.

Draco on the other hand was starting to get very worried about his fiancé, girlfriend, whatever she was now. He wasn't completely sure that she was still angry with him but he didn't know what was making her so distant from him. She hadn't put her ring back on even though he'd given it to her before they'd even left the hospital. She'd simply been wearing it on a silver chain around her neck and when she would stare off into space, which was almost continuously, she would absentmindedly fidget with it. He would catch her every so often running her hand unconsciously across her midsection. Draco knew that part of her thoughts were directed at the baby that was inside her and her words to him when he'd first told her the news that night in the hospital. He'd felt her jerk awake at night and he knew that she was usually coated in a layer of sweat but since she seemed to absolutely refuse to let him in and tell him what was wrong, he had no idea what her dreams were about, though part of him simply figured that her nightmares about her best friend's death were returning. Draco had never felt so helpless in his entire life, even more helpless than he felt when Hermione had been kidnapped the previous year from their very own dormitory.

Finally, a few days later, Draco had had enough of the silent treatment and decided that he would just talk to her, whether she wanted to talk or not. He walked through the house looking for her and found her sitting in their room, dressed in a warm, forest green sweater and khakis (even though it was barely becoming chilly outside and was still only the middle of September) with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, and sitting in the same chair that she had practically become glued to for the past week. Kneeling down beside her chair, he put a hand over hers, which was resting on her drawn up knees. She jerked her head towards him at the touch.

"Hermione, come on sweetheart. You cant keep sitting here moping around all the time. You need to get up and get out of the house." Draco told her, gazing up into her beautiful eyes. "In fact come on, I'm taking you out to eat. Don't worry about changing, we'll just go somewhere casual."

Still staring at him, Hermione allowed Draco to pull her to her feet. Still silent, she walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of shoes. Draco grabbed her hand again and guided her towards the front lawn where they could apparate to Diagon Alley from. Draco decided to take her out for a day of shopping and pampering in muggle London. Just as the two were about to leave, a familiar white owl swooped down on them outside and dropped a letter into Hermione's hands before perching itself on the porch railing. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise at the presence of the all-too-familiar owl.

"Hedwig? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked softly, walking up to the owl and petting it gently on the head. As she did that, a small tear escaped her eye at the thought of her best friend. Shaking the thoughts away and wiping her eye hastily, she opened the letter that Hedwig had brought. Reading through it, she sighed heavily and then turned to Draco.

"We've got a meeting tonight. Eight o'clock. At Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement." She told him simply. Draco nodded curtly and then put his hand out for her to take.

Sighing, Hermione put her hand in his as Draco pulled her closer and apparated the two of them to Diagon Alley. Grasping her hand firmly, he led her through the streets, through the Leaky Cauldron entrance and into the streets of muggle London. He slowed his pace and the two walked hand in hand through the crowded streets of London, stopping occasionally as Draco pointed things out to Hermione through the store windows. After about an hour of walking, Hermione barely speaking two words, Draco led her to a quaint little café that was practically deserted. He ordered her a chicken Caesar salad and a raspberry ice-tea (her favorites) and a grilled chicken breast sautéed in olive oil with a side of sautéed onions, red peppers and snap peas with a large cup of coffee for himself. As they waited for the food to arrive, Draco tried once again to get Hermione to open up to him.

" 'Mione, sweetheart, please tell me what's bothering you." Draco asked pleadingly. "I can tell you've been miserable since you left the hospital over a week ago and you've barely spoken three words to me. It's tearing me up inside to see you like this, Mia." Draco hoped using his own little nickname for her would help her to open up and it surprisingly worked. Usually he only used that name in the bedroom when they were…well you know.

"It's just everything." She finally responded softly, her eyes still focused on the bustling street around them (they were sitting outside the café under one of those large patio umbrellas since it was a crisp but beautiful day).

"I'm scared Draco. And you know me," She gave off a sarcastic, forced, laugh. "I'm never frightened easily. The attack was a wake up call. I knew deep down he was still after me but I had tried my best not to think about it for the past few months. It was his way of telling me that he was still watching. And now, with the um, new development of ours, I'm completely terrified of what could happen. I need something to take my mind off of everything for awhile, otherwise I think I'm going to go stark raving mad."

Draco just nodded in understanding, not wanting to say anything just yet for fear that if he interrupted her, she'd just clam up and stop talking again.

"And now, my nightmares are back again. You know, the ones I had almost every night for two straight months after Harry died? Well they're back, almost nightly, mixed in with nightmares of the attack a couple weeks ago. It's driving me crazy Draco. I can barely eat, I cant sleep. I feel like he's slowly killing me from the inside out."

"Well," Draco said calmly. "What would you like to do to keep your mind off of things? We could take a trip, maybe go to Italy or something like you've always wanted to. Or what about to America? I know you've said that you would love to visit there one day."

"A trip would be nice but I think I need something more to focus on. I'm really thinking about taking the job offer from Hogwarts." Draco's eyes widened. He had hoped that she wouldn't take that job. He didn't want to return to that blasted school any time soon but he couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her for nine full months…especially now that they knew they were expecting a little one in just about seven short months.

" Mia, sweetie, I know that you would love to be a teacher and I know how much you love Hogwarts but don't you think that perhaps you should wait till at least next year before going back?" Draco said carefully, not wanting to start another shattering argument about it right in the middle of all the Muggles in London. Hermione looked at him like she'd just been slapped.

"No, no, don't get me wrong. I've been thinking a lot about this since we had our fight, which I am still so sorry for, and you're right, I should be happy for you. And I am, honestly baby. But then the attack happened and we found out we were going to have a little one in our lives in only seven short months. You do realize that you will have this baby before the end of the school term right? So please, Mia please, just wait till next year before you take the job. I want to keep you close. I promise that I will protect you and our daughter no matter what, okay?" Draco asked, placing his hands over her own that were placed lightly on the table and trying not to get his hopes up too high but deep down he was praying that she would say alright.

Before she could answer, the waiter returned with their lunches and placed them in front of the two. For a few moments, the two ate in complete silence, Hermione sighing every now and then. Finally she put her fork down, took a gulp of her tea and looked up at Draco.

"Alright, Draco. I'll wait. But I want you to know that come next year, I'm going back to work--even if it's not at Hogwarts. And I don't plan on staying home and playing pregnant housewife for the next year either. I still have a lot to work to do about this whole book thing and I'm not going to quit until I figure this whole mess out." She told him matter-of-factly and after a moment, Draco simply nodded in agreement and Hermione gave him the first smile she'd had in over a week. Gods how he missed her smile.

The couple sat and talked absentmindedly for the next half an hour, finishing their meals and relaxing for a few moments before continuing on their shopping trip. At least this time Hermione was more open and even smiling, pointing out stuff and actually allowing Draco to spoil her slightly, which she never allowed. The apparated back to their home, their arms full of packages…from new leather boots for Draco and bags full of new clothes for Hermione to even a few small things for their new addition to their family. Hermione wasn't planning on buying anything for the baby yet, since it wasn't due for quite awhile, but when she saw this Victorian looking crib set sitting in a baby boutique window in downtown London she just had to have it.

After they had unloaded their packages and had settled onto the couch in the sitting room with some hot tea, Hermione suddenly remembered that they had a meeting to attend that night and since it was at Hogwarts, she wanted to go early and speak with Slughorn and McGonagall about her decision. Sitting up and grabbing hold on Draco's wrist which held an expensive Armani watch and saw that it was almost seven already and they were supposed to be at the meeting in an hour. Pulling her feet out of Draco's lap (Draco was lovingly rubbing her feet while she lounged on the couch under a chenille throw blanket and sipping a cup of hot chamomile tea) and dashed up the stairs to change for the meeting, hollering to Draco to do the same. She dashed to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of tight but flexible black dress pants and pulled on an equally tight dark blue, long sleeved shirt. Sitting down on the bed she pulled her black combat-type boots on her feet and then re-brushed her long curly hair into a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck. She had learned a long time ago that it was always best to be completely prepared for anything when going to an Order meeting because you never knew when something would happen and you would be sent out on a mission or something. She went to her antique jewelry box (a gift from Mrs. Weasley at their engagement party) and pulled out a simple silver chain with a delicate and simple diamond-heart pendant on it that Draco had given her for their six month anniversary. Just as she was about to close the box and leave the room, a sparkling something caught her eye. As she looked closer she saw the gleaming platinum, and sparkling diamond, ruby and emeralds that made up her engagement ring. It was at that moment that she realized how naked her hand felt with that elegant piece missing and she quickly grabbed it, shoving it on her finger without a second thought and left the room to find her husband-to-be.

She found him waiting for her down in the sitting room wearing black muggle jeans and a sexy looking dark green, tight fitted jumper. As soon as she entered the room and caught his eye, her heart leapt again as if she hadn't seen him in months and next thing she knew, she found herself running across the room and practically jumping into his arms, lavishing him with tender kisses.

"Um, Mia baby, not that I don't absolutely love it when you do that but what's the occasion?" He asked setting her back down on the floor and laughing lightly.

"No occasion," She smiled up at him, her honey eyes twinkling. "I just wanted to show you that I love you."

Draco smiled genuinely back at her, glad to see her happy again. "Well I love you too Mia. But I think we should be going."

He placed her hand in his and linked their fingers together, feeling the ring back on her finger and smiling brightly to himself as they headed out the front door and apparated to the gates of Hogwarts. The happy couple made their way up the familiar walkway to the castle, their hands clasped tightly together as the few students who were milling around stopped and glanced their way, curious as to what brought Hogwarts most infamous couple back after they had graduated.


	5. The Order Induction

_**Chapter Four: The Order Induction**_

The couple made their way through the very familiar corridors to the Grand Staircase and caught the moving stairs up to the fifth floor where the Headmistress' office was still located. Before they could get there though, they were stopped by a familiar red-head bounding down the hallway towards them.

"Hermione! "Mione, wait!" Ginny Weasley called as she bounced excitedly towards the couple. When she reached them she immediately launched herself at Hermione, giving her a fierce, rib-cracking hug.

"What are you doing her 'Mione?" Ginny asked, breaking away from her embrace. She turned to Draco and nodded curtly. "Malfoy."

"OOP meeting Gin." Hermione explained, using the code for the Order so that no one could tell what they were talking about.

"Oh, gotcha. Hey come to the common room after okay? I haven't seen you in awhile and I miss you!" Gin said hopefully.

Hermione glanced at Draco who just looked at her with a neutral expression on his face, probably from the prospect of being in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"We'll see Gin, depends on what time the meeting is over 'k?" Hermione said vaguely.

She gave Ginny a quick hug and the couple continued to the gargoyle marking the entrance of the Headmistress' office. Upon reaching it, however, she suddenly realized that she had no clue what the password was but luckily, though she should have expected it from all the times it had happened before, the gargoyle sprung to life on it's own, allowing the couple to enter the spiral staircase to McGonagall's office. Rapping lightly on the hard wood door, they entered and were greeted by a smiling McGonagall who motioned for them to sit down.

"Well Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. To what do I owe this surprise? It's not often my top students come back so soon after graduation to visit." McGonagall smiled at the former students. "Is this about the recent letter I sent you about the open position?"

"Actually Professor," Hermione began.

"Please, Miss Granger, I am no longer your teacher so you can simply call me Minerva." McGonagall interjected.

"Um, alright, well _Minerva_," Hermione began again. " Actually I've, I mean _we've_, decided that due to recent um discoveries, it would be best if I held off a position like this until next year." Hermione let her eyes wander a bit, not wanting to look her former professor in the eye in case she asked what the discoveries were exactly. Unfortunately, Hermione's allusiveness didn't work on the elder professor.

"You do realize what an honor this is, Miss Granger? It's not very often when we give such a position to a recent graduate…even one with your extraordinary credentials." McGonagall asked, slightly taken aback at Hermione's words.

"Yes, I do. And I am honored, really I am. But it's just not something I can commit to fully until next year." Hermione tried to explain as vaguely as possible. She wasn't quite ready to tell anyone about her condition.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, but could you please tell me why you would turn down such an explosive opportunity? There must be a very good reason for it one would think."

Hermione looked at Draco who gave her a reassuring smile, silently telling her to go ahead and tell McGonagall the news. Hermione glared at him slightly and took a deep breath.

"Well, you see, I've recently found out that we're, um," Hermione stuttered, not really wanting to tell her.

"We've discovered that Hermione is having a baby, Minerva." Draco jumped in, smiling broadly and earning a deep glare from his fiancé. He simply smiled back at her and continued. "A little girl due sometime in late April. So you see, Hermione would not even be able to complete this year of work and I think, well I hope we both agree, that it would be best for her to focus on the baby this year."

McGonagall looked back and forth between her two former pupils. Draco looked extremely ecstatic while Hermione looked somewhat solemn about the whole affair, keeping her eyes either on the floor in front of her or wandering around the room avoiding eye contact.

"Well I suppose that congratulations are definitely in order then." McGonagall said, with a small smile. "I fully understand your situation Miss Granger and I will make sure that you will be first on our list for next year. Now, I believe that you two have a certain meeting to attend?" Both nodded. "Well then, it was a pleasure seeing you both. I hope that you will keep in contact during the next year." She smiled at them again and the couple rose from their seats and took their leave out the door.

They made their way silently up to the seventh floor where the Room of Requirement was located. Draco and Hermione walked the entire way, him trying to hold her hand while she pulled away silently. She was still upset that he told McGonagall about their pregnancy when she hadn't even fully grasped it herself yet. She might have taken a back seat for a job that she really had wanted but that didn't mean she had accepted the fact.

_And I'll be bloody damned if he tells the Order about it. There's no way they would let me fight and it will be a bloody cold day in hell when she took the back seat for that._ She thought bitterly to herself as they came to the door to the Room of Requirement a full fifteen minutes early for the meeting. Just as she was about to walk through the door, Draco grabbed her elbow gently and pulled her back for a moment.

"Mia, honey, what's wrong? I thought we had decided that it was for the best right now?" He asked her concernedly.

"Yes _we_ decided that, Draco, but that didn't mean you had to go and tell McGonagall I was pregnant! I was gonna just make up some excuse and tell her later….when I was ready to tell people!" She hissed back at him, pulling her arm from his hold.

"Are you ashamed of being pregnant, Hermione? Because you are definitely not acting like someone who is at all happy with the predicament." Draco shot back at her, giving her a look mixed with curiosity and mild resentment.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, dear, I'm not ashamed of it. I'm just not fully accepting it yet. Its quite a bit to handle you know? I don't like anyone dictating what I can and can't do and it's just a bit strange for me. So, can you please just keep your mouth shut about our little 'surprise' until I'm ready to tell people? Okay?" She told him pointedly, crossing her arm defensively across her chest in a very Hermione-like way. Draco simply sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders lovingly.

"Okay, no problem honey. If you aren't ready to tell people yet then I'll support your decision. Okay? Mia?" Draco said, leaning his forehead on hers and looking into her honey eyes.

"Hermione! Malfoy." a voice sounded behind the couple. They turned to see who was calling and saw Ron's red head walking briskly towards them. Hermione immediately left Draco's side and practically jumped into Ron's open arms.

Ron Weasley had been spending the summer training with the Chudley Cannons, a dream come true for the redheaded boy. He had written to Hermione a few weeks prior telling her that he was up for a possible Keeper position with his favorite team. She could almost hear the excitement in his voice as she read the letter. Ron had grown into quite a good looking young man from the gangly boy she'd grew up with. His red hair was almost as long as his brother, Bill's was and he had it pulled back in short ponytail just as Bill always wore it. His frame was sturdier now, having spent many grueling hours training in the past few months. He stood roughly six foot even, which was a couple inches taller than Draco himself and it thrilled Ron to no extent to finally be able to look down at Malfoy.

Ron still loathed the fact that Hermione was with Malfoy. He would never understand nor would he ever fully trust the blond haired ex-Slytherin. He had always believed, well except for the brief period in sixth year when he dated her himself, that she would end up getting married, having kids and growing old with Harry. And even now, with Harry gone, Ron just could see Hermione with anyone else…let alone the blond ferret.

The three walked into the room together, noticing that while they were still a few minutes early, the room was already full with Order members. Walking to the front of the room with Ron by her side, Hermione sat down in the chair next to what was once Harry's chair on the right side of the long table that was in the middle of the room. Draco sat down a little ways from the duo, not wanting to intrude. He knew, from as long as he'd been working with the Order at least, that Harry, Ron, and Hermione always sat in the three seats at the front of the table. They'd have only three meetings since Harry's death the previous February, but no one had yet dared to sit in his old chair…

_Probably just scared that the rest of the Golden Trio will hex them into oblivion if they tried._ Draco snickered to himself as he took a seat a little further down the table.

Finally about ten moments later, Remus Lupin took his seat at the top of the table, bringing the meeting to order. He and some of the older members discussed a few normal items, nothing to drastic, and then it was time for the main reason for the meeting. Standing up once again and holding up a hand to silence the room, he nodded towards Tonks who immediately went to the corner cabinet to retrieve something.

"Okay, most of you already know what today's real meeting reason is, but there are those of you for whom it was planned a surprise. We were planning to do this back in June but because of not-so-recent events, we decided to postpone." Remus told them. Most of the actual members nodded and several even smiled. This made Hermione and Ron look around the room curiously and anxiously. **( A/N: You see, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Draco, and a couple other recent graduates were not actually 'members' of the Order yet, they worked for them yes, but had not been given their oaths---yes they have oaths in my story lol)**.

Tonks returned to the table, now standing beside Remus, an exquisitely crafted wooden box in her hands. The box was small, only about the size of a modest book and contained no keyholes and a very detailed and elegant picture of a phoenix on it's top. Remus nodded towards Tonks and she placed the box on the table in front of him, causing a look to be cast between Ron and Hermione who were right beside him (well almost right beside, save the empty chair that belonged to Harry).

"Tonight belongs to our newest members. Unfortunately not all of the younger 'members' will be getting inducted this evening but that is mainly due, not to loyalty or anything extreme, but simply because they have not been here long enough." Remus said, looking pointedly at Draco and a surprising person stashed towards the back of the room, Blaise Zabini. Hermione looked at Draco down the table with the obvious question in her eyes: _Where the bloody hell did Blaise come from?_ Draco simply shrugged and Hermione turned her attention back to Remus.

"May I ask that Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley," The rest of the Weasley gang that was there beamed. "and Hermione Granger please join me up here at the front of the room?" The three friends looked at each other, smiled, then rose from their seats and joined Remus standing at the front of the table. Turning once to look at the former students, he focused back on the rest of the room and continued his speech.

"These three students have been working very loyally with us since their fifth year at Hogwarts. Since that time, they have engaged in battle with us several times and gone through extraordinary circumstances to do whatever they needed to do to accomplish their goals. At the age of fifteen," Hermione 'ahemed' in the form of a small cough behind Remus. "Excuse me, at the age of fifteen and sixteen, these three, along with fellow students Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley who are still in their seventh year at Hogwarts, broke into the Department of Mysteries and fought off a large handful of Death Eaters single handedly to keep a certain invaluable artifact from reaching the hands of Voldemort.

"Since that time, this group has gone through many obstacles, including another rather heated battle taking place right here at Hogwarts the end of their sixth year," Draco slouched down lower in his chair and looked very ashamed at the mention of that. "and still managed to get through their final years and pass with flying colors. Now a little about each member as they each step forward to receive their oaths." The room applauded politely, well all except for the Weasley brothers at the other end of the table who were cheering for their little brother and practically adopted sister. As soon as they quieted down, Remus called each of the former students to him one at a time, starting with Neville Longbottom.

"Neville has gone through a drastic change in his life over the past few years. His parents were taken from him when he was only but an infant but he has never allowed that to consume his life. He has grown into a very talented young wizard, mastering the arts of Herbology and History, two very valuable assets to us as a group." Remus went on for another moment before giving Neville the oath of the Order to which he wholeheartedly accepted.

The ceremony went on for another ten minutes while Remus called up Ron and spoke the words about him and he took his oath as well. The Weasley brothers could be seen beaming proudly while Remus listed off his accomplishments and such. Then came the final induction of the night, Hermione. She suddenly felt her heart leap into her throat. She had been waiting for this moment for the past two years and couldn't help but to shed a couple joyous tears as Remus got to her.

"And finally, Miss Hermione Granger. I think it is safe to assume that this young lady has accomplished more in her few short years than many of us may have done in our lifetimes. Easily the brightest and most powerful witch to ever grace Hogwart's halls, the former Head Girl has overcome many obstacles to get to where she is today. Ever since I met this young lady back in her third year, I saw a bright and exuberant future ahead for her. We all know her as "the brains" of the group that the students here had so nicknamed "The Golden Trio"," that was it for Hermione, she lost every shred of composure at the "Golden Trio" comment, a loud sob escaping from her throat and her eyes overflowing with tears, along with a few of the other members as well, and wrapped her arms around Ron who was standing just behind her. "It is easily said that she is a very large reason why Voldemort has been kept at bay for these past few years."

All of a sudden, Hermione was struck with a sickening wave of nausea swelling in her stomach and was forced to tune out the rest of Remus' speech. One hand unconsciously moved to her stomach while the other instinctively reached up and grabbed a hold of Ron's arm to steady herself as a small wave of dizziness came over her as well. She dazed herself from the room for a moment and didn't even notice that Remus was calling her forward to take her oath until she felt Ron shaking her arm slightly. She looked back up and noticed that everyone was looking at her concernedly, especially Draco, but she simply shot them a small smile and repeated her oath with Remus.

When she was done taking the oath, Remus pulled the other two new members up beside Hermione and opened the box that Tonks had fetched for him earlier. Inside was a bright red stone, larger and darker than any ruby Hermione had ever seen. If you looked at it intently, it almost appeared to have small flames dancing inside of it. Remus took the stone in one hand and raised his wand with his other hand and asked each of the new inductees to turn around and lift their hair off their necks. The three obliged and one by one, he lifted his wand to the nape of their necks and muttering a simple incantation, the stone began glowing a soft flaming glow and they were each sent an electric-like jolt through their bodies as the Phoenix Flame was burned gently into their skin. This left Hermione feeling even fainter than before but she kept her senses and tried to play it off like everything was fine.

The meeting lasted another twenty minutes, with Hermione looking faint and trying to keep the nausea waves from crashing on her. Finally after the meeting ended and everyone was basically milling around conversing, the nausea caught up with her and she dashed from the room at lightening speed, leaving Ron calling after her.

After making it to the nearest bathroom and heaving herself hoarse, she leaned back against the cold stone of the bathroom wall when suddenly she felt a fierce sharp pain in her abdomen like someone stabbing her with a sharp knife. The pain increased to the point where she couldn't handle it anymore and couldn't move. She screamed out in pain, echoing through the deserted bathroom, the room felt as if it were spinning and before she knew it, she had collapsed against the cold stone floor, her eyes closing from the fatigue of pain.


	6. The Awakening

**A/N: Okay so I'm a hypocrite lol…I'm always complaining that no one ever gets Blaise's character right and well even though I know that's he's a black guy with a whore for a mother (don't believe me check the Lexicon lol) but it's something about the name Blaise that just screams Italian to me so since I have this thing for sexy Italian guys he he, I'm making him Italian in my story but yes once again I do know that it's not right…but who cares lol?**

**Oh and since this is posted on the other site, .com, as well, it finally has a banner. Part one has a new banner as well so if anyone wants to check them out, you can do so at these links: book one-- http/img423.imageshack.us/img423/5692/kindredspiritsbanner1jr.gif; book two-- http/img512.imageshack.us/img512/990/book23xh.gifand the song-fic excerpt from KS chapter 21-- http/img275.imageshack.us/img275/3388/myimmortal3ty.gif Let me know if you all like them! They were created by secretsoul at Dark Arts

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_**Chapter Five: The Awakening**_

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Draco sat talking in the corner of the room to Blaise Zabini, trying to figure out just what the Italian boy was doing in one of their meetings. Blaise had always been like Draco was when it came to Muggleborns and blood purity, well up until sixth and seventh year when Draco finally started thinking for himself and removed himself from his father's mold. Blaise was a single child, almost a full year older than Draco. The Zabini family, which now just consisted of his mother and whatever guy happened to be the flavor of the year, had lived just a couple estates down from the Malfoy Manor since Draco was four. Blaise's father ran off with some woman when Blaise was only around six years old and since then, he'd spent many a days and nights at Malfoy Manor to stay as far away from his house and his mother's activities as possible.

After speaking to him for a good fifteen-twenty minutes, Draco found out that Blaise had actually been working with the Order for almost two years now, feeding them information that he got from the other Slytherins about the Death Eaters. Draco could barely believe his ears.

"I'm going to get a drink." He said finally, trying to absorb everything that Blaise had just told him, and walking over to the make-shift bar to get a firewhiskey.

It was while he was standing by the bar sipping his drink when Ron came over and asked if he'd seen Hermione.

"What do you mean? She was just talking to you but a moment ago Weasley." Draco said, curious as to why he was asking.

"A moment ago? Damn Malfoy I knew you were stupid but you have no perception of time either. 'Mione ran out of here clutching her stomach almost a half and hour ago. I thought perhaps she'd come back in but I missed her but apparently she hasn't." The redhead told him matter-of-factly. It took a mere moment for his words to sink in and when they did Draco's features paled dramatically. Ron noticed this.

"Hey ferret boy, what's up your arse? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" Ron exclaimed, chuckling about Draco's sudden paleness.

"Did you just say that she hasn't been seen in almost 30 minutes? Crap, out of my way Weasel…I need to find her." Draco said, pushing Ron away from him.

"Whoa, she muttered something about using the loo. Perhaps she ran into Ginny or something? No need to fret, Malfoy, I'm sure she's fine." Ron said, not used to seeing this concerned side of Draco, having only seen it once when he had burst into the Gryffindor Common Room during seventh year when Hermione was kidnapped by Voldemort.

"You don't get it Weasley. She's pregnant you dolt!" He hissed to Ron who turned just as pale as Draco at those words. Draco silently cursed to himself for saying that as he pushed his way out the door.

Draco rushed through the corridors as fast as his legs would carry him. There were three girls' bathrooms on this floor and Ron had mentioned something about her saying she was going to the loo so he started looking. Unfortunately for Draco, he started rushing in the opposite direction from Hermione.

Twenty long minutes later, he still had not seen or heard her anywhere and he was already making his way to the last lavatory on the floor. He started praying that she was alright. He knew that pregnant women often had harsh morning sicknesses but it had been almost an hour from what Weasley had told him since Hormone ran unceremoniously from the room.

Coming into the final bathroom, he shouted first to see if there were any occupants before entering and looking around. As he made his way down the line of cubicles, his eyes caught a glimpse of what looked like a small hand on the ground poking out of one of the stalls. Rushing towards it, he looked closer and that's when he saw it---Hermione's engagement ring sparkling against the pale skin of the lifeless looking hand. Trying to push the door open, he found it lodged so he quickly took out his wand and muttered _Evenesco , _vanishing the cubicle door as Draco's heart lurched at the site. There, lying on the cold floor, was a very pale looking Hermione, eyes closed and apparently unconscious. He kneeled down beside her and quickly looked for a pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when he found it, although it seemed fainter than it should be. He shook her a couple of times, lightly at first and then a little more roughly, trying desperately to wake her up. Cursing loudly at being unsuccessful, he carefully slid his arms under her limp body and picked her up off the cold floor, clutching her tightly to his chest.

He rushed off towards the hospital wing, thanking the gods that it happened to be on the same floor as well, holding her tightly and muttering soft words of encouragement to her. Shoving open the Hospital Wing doors, he shouted fiercely for Madam Pomphrey as he laid Hermione's body on the closest bed. He shouted again and a moment later a sleepy, disheveled Madam Pomphrey came bursting out the door that led to her private quarters. She rushed through the hospital and stopped abruptly at the site she saw.

"Well Mr. Malfoy, to what do I owe this pleasure?" the Healer said with a sickened sweetness.

"Madam Pomphrey, we were here for the meeting. She left right after clutching her stomach, apparently feeling nauseous I assume and didn't come back. I found her almost an hour later lying unconscious in one of the bathroom stalls." Draco explained hurriedly to the sleepy nurse. Noticing the former Head Girl lying on the bed beside Draco, she immediately rushed into Healer mode and darted to the bedside.

"Well this is not good, not good at all." Pomphrey muttered to herself as she checked over Hermione's vitals. "She definitely should not be this hot. Has she been sick at all recently?" She muttered a quick cooling spell to help reduce the girl's developing fever.

Draco looked down at his fiancé with sadness in his eyes. "No she hasn't been sick. She was attacked, however a couple of weeks ago by some Death Eaters. And then at St Mungo's we learned that we are expecting…they told me that it was the baby who saved her life, that she should have died from the curse." He told the nurse in a quiet, sad, tone as he gazed at Hermione's helpless figure.

Madam Pomphrey began examining the young woman to try and figure out what was causing her condition. Normal pregnancies don't usually contribute to passing out or developing fevers. She ushered Draco out of the wing, telling him that he needed to give her some space to work. Feeling defeated and concerned, he made his way back to the Room of Requirement. He barely got in the door when Ron practically pounced on him with questions of Hermione's whereabouts.

"She's in the hospital wing, Weasley, but don't try to get in there, Madam Pomphrey already kicked me out." Draco told him, taking a seat in a quiet corner, his head falling into his hands as he tried to keep himself composed. This was twice in the last month that Hermione had ended up in the hospital.

"Yea, but that's you. I'm her best friend, Pomphrey has never kept me from seeing Hermione." Ron said matter-of-factly as he turned on his heel and rushed from the room.

The next hour went by like a running turtle for Draco, it felt like the clock was against him. Eventually most of the Order had dispersed, leaving Draco in the room with just Remus Lupin and Blaise Zabini. Ron had never come back from when he'd rushed out to go to the hospital wing. Remus tried speaking to Draco a couple times but Draco was lost in his own thoughts so Remus just gave up. Blaise was continuously bugging Draco to tell him what was going on with him but Draco didn't want to speak for fear that he would once again give up the information that Hermione had specifically asked him not to tell.

Finally he got up from his chair and made his way back towards the hospital wing. The halls were completely deserted, since it was almost midnight now. He walked quietly through the door to the hospital and saw his fiancé laying exactly where he'd left her but now her skin looked healthier and not so pale. He also saw that Ron was sitting half asleep in a chair at her bedside, stroking her hand which he was holding. Apparently Ron didn't hear Draco come in because he continued to talk to Hermione, who was still unconscious, so Draco stayed back for a moment to listen.

" 'Mione, sweetheart. You've got to wake up okay? You cant leave me, you're all I've got left 'Mione." Ron was saying, as he reached up and rubbed her cheek lovingly. Draco could hear the sorrow in his voice and began to worry…what had he missed? What was wrong with Hermione? He was about to walk over and ask that very question but then he heard Weasley's voice again and did not like what he heard.

"You know I've always loved you 'Mione. I know that you never returned the feelings but I love you." Ron said quietly as he rose from his seat and kissed Hermione softly on the cheek. As he went to sit back down he heard a shuffling noise and turned around to see Draco standing by the doorway watching him intently.

"Look, Weasley," Draco said as he walked towards the bed where Hermione was laying. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part. Right now I just want to know why you are talking to Hermione like she's dying? What do you know that I don't?"

"After I got here, Pomphrey was running some tests on her because she couldn't figure out what would have put her in this condition. She even sent an owl to St Mungo's to see what they had found during their examination. Speaking of, why didn't anyone tell me she had been attacked? But anyway," Ron said, shaking off the question. "They wrote back saying something about the baby saving her life and whatnot. Apparently, the curse that she was hit with should have killed her but instead, thanks to the baby, it only left her in a weakened state. Basically, her body is weakened to the point that she's barely alive. Pomphrey said that she was surprised that she had lasted this long without passing out yet."

"So whats that mean? Is she going to wake up?" Draco asked, his voice breaking as he looked past Ron to the sleeping woman on the bed. He pushed past the redhead and took over the seat beside her, taking her hand in his own. She didn't even move a muscle when he wrapped her hand in his own, and her skin was chilled.

"Pomphrey doesn't know." Ron said solemnly, moving to the other side of Hermione. The two remained silent until Ron moved to leave, saying he would be back the next day to check on her.

Draco sat there at her side almost continuously for the next three days. Hermione's condition seemed to fluxuate. At times it appeared that she was going to wake up and other times it was as if she were mere inches from death's door. Draco only left to clean up and use the restroom, spending as little time as possible away from her side. Hermione on the other hand, while in her deep sleep state, was dreaming.

It was around 2am on the morning of the fourth day in the hospital wing. Draco was fast asleep sitting in the chair beside her bed. Hermione was stirring in her sleep while Draco's mind drifted off into a strange but eerily real dream.

_He was walking down a long corridor, his surroundings unfamiliar. He heard the distinct sound of voices coming from a room down the corridor. The door was cracked open slightly, letting a small section of light come into the dark hallway. As he followed the sound of the voices he realized that he was hearing female voices, what appeared to be several females. They were discussing someone._

"_Do you really think she's the one? I mean she's so young." one of the woman were saying._

"_Not too mention she's muggleborn. Is it even possible?" another was saying_

"_Yes it is possible, doesn't happen often but totally possible. And yes, from what we've found, she's definitely the one." The woman who appeared to be the leader said._

"_What about the latest news? There's word that she is now with child….what happens now?" _

_The leader looked around the room before speaking again. "If that be the case, then there is still hope after all."_

"Draco…" a voice whispered, as Draco was awakening from the strange dream. He blinked his eyes a couple times, thinking that he was hearing things.

"Draco." The voice whispered slightly again. Draco looked around and felt something warm touch his arm. He jumped slightly, still not fully awake, and looked down. Hermione had woken up finally and was touching his arm, trying to get his attention. Draco leapt from his chair fully awake and knelt by the bedside, taking her hand in his.

"Oh baby, you came back to me. I was worried, I thought that I had lost you." Draco told her, his voice breaking with the emotions. He leaned up and kissed her gently on the forehead. Her eyes were still half closed.

"Draco, I had the most wonderful dream." She smiled faintly and then opened her eyes the rest of the way and, looking shocked, glanced around her surroundings.

"Um, why are we in the Hogwarts hospital wing?" She asked suddenly, jerking to a sitting position on the bed.

"Honey, you passed out almost four days ago in the girls bathroom after the meeting." Draco told her gently. "You mean you don't remember?" She shook her head no. He hollered for Madam Pomphrey.

Pomphrey rushed into the room and noticed Hermione sitting up, fully awake and looked rather pleased. She hurried over to her patient and began checking vitals. She checked her pulse and her temperature and then did a quick spell to check on the baby's condition. A bright pink glow emitted from Hermione's stomach as the nurse said the spell. It was a very bright light but the nurse looked extremely relieved at it while Draco and Hermione looked somewhat confused.

"Well obviously the baby is a girl but judging by your looks, you seem to already know that." Pomphrey smiled at the couple. "The brighter the light, the stronger and healthier the baby so it seems that your child is in perfect health and doing just fine. You, however, Miss Granger, need to get some very well needed rest. Do not overexert yourself in any way and try to keep off of your feet as much as possible for the next few months. Oh, and no Flooing anywhere, the force of the travel may disrupt your condition and you could have another fainting spell. Be careful with apparation as well, in fact, if at all possible stick to ground transportations….just to be safe. Other than that, you may go Miss Granger. Please take care of yourself. I have already sent daily reports to your attending Healer at St Mungo's so be sure to keep up with your prenatal appointments." Hermione and Draco both nodded and Hermione proceeded to get up from the bed, Draco helping her as much as humanly possible (which was really getting on Hermione's nerves since she was so independent).

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Back at their house, Hermione was laying comfortably on their sitting room couch watching TV (she had made sure that their were some muggle devices in her home to feel closer to the world she grew up in, even though half of the things still confused Draco). She was wrapped in a soft chenille blanket and sipping on a cup of hot chamomile tea while Draco sat on the couch beside her, her upper body resting on his while his hand draped around her shoulder and played delicately with her hair. Hermione was still somewhat distraught over basically not being allowed to do much of anything herself for the next few months for fear that something could happen to her or her baby. A small smile played on her lips though as she thought about the wonderful dream that she had had during her unconscious state.

"Draco remember when I woke up and I was about to tell you about this wonderful dream I had?" Draco nodded, looking down at her face, illuminated beautifully in the candlelight of the room.

"Well I saw us, and our daughter, in the future. We were all so happy and it helped me believe that we just might possibly make it through everything." She told him.

Draco simply smiled but before he could say anything, Hedwig interrupted by pecking feverishly on the sitting room window. Before Draco could stop her, Hermione practically launched herself from the couch and rushed to the window, throwing it open as Hedwig flew gracefully through it and landed on the arm of the couch. Draco made a move to claim the letter that she was carrying but Hermione beat him to it. She pulled the letter away and, giving Draco a look that just laughed at him, went about reading the letter…which she found was actually addressed to her from Remus Lupin. Draco sat and watched her face as the features went from happy to curious to just plain confused. He went to speak up and ask her but, obviously sensing his question, she replied quickly.

"Oh, Lupin wants me to meet him at Grimmauld Place tomorrow afternoon." She explained without looking up from the letter. After she finished, she walked to the nearby desk and laid the letter down, grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled a reply. As she moved to attach the reply letter to Hedwig's leg, she noticed that Draco had come behind her. Before she could move to protect the letter she had just received, Draco snatched it off the desk and read it thoroughly, his face distorting into a look of almost contempt and anger.

"Uh-huh. Nope, no way. You're not going." He told her matter-of-factly as he tossed the letter back on the desk and started to move back towards the couch. Hermione looked at him angrily.

"Excuse me? Yes I am, this is important." She shot back at him. Draco stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her.

"No you aren't. You are supposed to be resting, not gallivanting around Britain Mia." He replied sternly, as if she were a contempt child begging to do something that she knew she was not allowed to do.

"Yes I am, Draco. He said they've gotten new information. I have to go and I'm going to." She shot back at him.

"No, Hermione and that's final!" Draco said, his voice low and quaking with mild anger. "I refuse to let you go traipsing somewhere that could put you in harm. You are supposed to be resting and taking care of yourself and our child not rushing around researching and scrounging for information!" His voice raised slightly.

"Dammit, Draco! I am an adult and you will not tell me what I can and cannot do. I am going to meet with Remus tomorrow and you, my dear, will just have to get over it." She told him back, determined not to lose the argument.

He walked over to her and grabbed her firmly but not rashly by the arms and forced her to look at him.

"Listen, sweetheart. It's my job to make sure you are safe and are not doing anything that could put you and our daughter at risk so no, you will not be going and if I have to stay up all night and all day to watch you like a child then bloody hell, woman, I will!" He told her. Draco let go of her arms and stormed from the room.

"Good luck with that Malfoy." Hermione muttered to herself, returning to the task of tying her reply to the owl's leg. "We'll just see about that."


	7. Is This The End?

_**Chapter 6: An Unexpected Visitor**_

The next morning Hermione awoke very early to find Draco sleeping soundly beside her. She very slowly and carefully slid her way out of bed and made her way silently to the bathroom door, pulling her dressing gown over her pajamas as she went (because she had stored her wand in the pocket of it the night before). Just as she was about to enter the bathroom, she heard Draco wake up slightly.

"Where are you going, Mia?" He asked sleepily, barely awake.

"Just to the bathroom, honey. Go back to sleep, I'll be right back." She told him and watched as he flopped back on the bed and began snoring softly.

She closed the bathroom door as silently as possible and quickly tore off her dressing gown, taking her wand from the pocket. Thanking the gods that she was advanced in transfiguration, she quickly transfigured her pajamas into a cute looking rose-colored tunic and khakis. She straightened her hair magically and pulled it into a loose ponytail and crept from the opposite door (the bathroom had two doors--one to the bedroom and one to the spare room next to theirs, which she was planning on using as the nursery). Tiptoeing ever so quietly down the stairs, she slid her feet into her shoes by the front door and grabbed her jacket since it was usually pretty crisp this early in the morning. Pausing for a moment, her hand on the front doorknob, she listened intently to make sure that Draco wasn't following her. Feeling confident that he was still asleep soundly in their room, she slowly made her way outside to the apparation point. When she reached the point, she turned to face the house and silently whispered "I'm sorry" before Apparating to Diagon Alley.

Hermione knew that Lupin wasn't expecting her until the afternoon but if she waited that long to get out of the house with Draco watching her practically like a hawk, she'd never make it to the meeting. Walking slowly through the practically abandoned street, she made her way towards the Leaky Cauldron. She stopped at the small Owl Post Office and sent a quick note to Remus letting him know that she would be heading to Grimmauld Place probably around noon, in case he wanted to meet earlier. After that, she made her way through the Leaky Cauldron and into the streets of muggle London in search of something good to eat for breakfast.

She spied a quaint little café on the corner of one of the streets and decided that it looked good enough to check out. Thankful that she had kept a muggle bank account with a decent amount of funds in it, she walked into the café. It was almost completely empty, save for the elderly couple in the corner drinking coffee. She ordered her own café latte and a bagel with cream cheese and sat herself down with a newspaper in another secluded corner of the café. As she sipped her latte and flipped nonchalantly through the muggle newspaper, her thoughts started drifting to Draco and how he would act to find her gone when he awoke. She knew he would be mad but hopefully by the time she got home he'd have calmed down and understood. Trying not to dwell on her thoughts, she engrossed herself in her newspaper and next thing she knew it was going on nine o'clock.

Paying her check and nodding a polite thank you to the young woman who owned the shop, she made her way back into the now bustling street. She thought for a moment about what to do and then decided that since she still had three hours till she said she would be at Grimmauld Place but since her mind was already swimming with questions about what sort of information they had obtained so she decided to go to the one place she's always felt at home---the Library. Walking back to the Leaky Cauldron, she Flooed to the Magical Library and started her research, feeling right at home.

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Draco woke up to an empty bed and immediately jumped up to begin looking through the house for Hermione. He searched every room, even the bathrooms and the gardens outside and there was no trace of her. Going back inside, his anger flaring and concern weaning, he ran up to his room and quickly threw on some clothes. Heaving his feet into a pair of expensive trainers, he dashed to the study and Flooed immediately to 12 Grimmauld Place, figuring that she had gone there after all. Arriving in the living room of the now deserted house, he ran from room to room hollering her name but found it was completely empty. Yelling out in anguish, he turned and focused his anger on a nearby wall punching it as hard as he could. Crying out again, only in pain this time, he swore loudly and headed outside to apparate…to where, though, he wasn't sure yet but he would find her.

Stepping out into the cool autumn air, he walked to the near-by park and sat down on a bench to concentrate. It was close to noon already.

_How could I have slept in so late?_ He asked himself angrily._ If I hadn't slept in, she wouldn't have been able to leave._

As he sat there thinking intensely, he felt a tingling sensation---the same one he usually felt whenever Hermione was nearby. Standing up abruptly, he looked around. He looked throughout the park as far as he could see but didn't see her anywhere. Looking back through the trees , he could clearly see the empty space where 12 Grimmauld Place was hidden and in that exact moment, the house appeared which meant that someone was obviously there. And just as he realized that, he watched his betrothed walk briskly into his view, up the front walk and in the front door looking happy and excited. He set off across the park, not rushing anymore as he was trying to compose himself as much as possible to help keep a possible fight from erupting. Little did he know that there would be an even bigger surprise waiting inside the house.

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Hermione brushed into the house completely unaware that Draco was watching her from the park across the street. She had a smile on her face from the relaxing morning she had just spent in the Magical Library. She hadn't really found anything that could really be useful to the whole situation that she was in with Voldemort but it had still been great to be back among the books again.

With a smile on her face, she walked into the living room and immediately saw Remus sitting in an arm chair and stopped in her tracks, a loud gasp escaping from her lips. It wasn't Remus that caused her to gasp, but it was the company that was in the room with him. Her shocked expression was quickly replaced by one of huge happiness at the site of her friend, whom she hadn't seen since the summer before seventh year. The two men in the room looked up towards the doorway and smiled brightly when they saw Hermione. The man Remus was speaking with stood up and smiled wider when he saw Hermione's shocked expression change to happiness.

"Viktor!" She cried, rushing into the room and practically jumping into his open arms.

The two had had a small fling that never really amounted to much when she was in fourth year and he was visiting Hogwarts from his school Durmstrang and competed in the Triwizard Tournament. The two had almost immediately started into a wonderful friendship that continued after he left and graduated school, going on to become one of the best professional Seekers the Quidditch world had ever seen. He was still as tall and well-built as he was the last time she'd seen him when she had finally taken him up on the offer to spend sometime with him in Bulgaria over the summer before seventh year. His clean buzzed hair had remained, as well as his well defined chiseled features that Hermione remembered well and loved. They had grown very close during the past few years and were very good friends. He had taught her all sorts of things, like how to fly (though she was still nervous about doing it on her own) and she had taught him better English.

" 'Mione, hello. It's wonderful to see you again. How have you been doing?" Viktor asked her, hugging her tightly. He still harbored feelings for her that had began over 3 years ago. He knew that they wouldn't be more than friends, however, and also knew about her relationship with Draco Malfoy and though he didnt approve, he was content as long as she was happy.

"I've been good, well as good as could be expected since the incident last year. But enough catch up for now….what are you doing here?" She rambled off, breaking the embrace and pulling back slightly, her hands in his.

"Yes, Remus told me what happened with Harry. It's a great loss, he was a wonderfully talented wizard--not to mention an excellent flier. Actually he's part of the reason I'm in Britain. Remus contacted me last year and I've been working the Bulgarian front for the Order for him, trying to recruit new members and keep my ears open and whatnot. Sorry I did not tell you Hermione but it needed to be kept a secret, you know." He told her, smiling his handsome smile that she had almost fallen for back in school.

The two friends caught up on old times and memories for awhile and chitchatted with Remus about Order business. They were all so deep in conversation that they didn't hear another person enter the house and come to a stop outside the room. Draco had walked into the house and stopped abruptly at the site he saw in the living room. Back in school he practically idolized Viktor Krum, being a seeker himself. When he met him personally at Hogwarts during the Tournament and watched as he escorted Hermione to the Yule Ball, he was almost jealous. He had known that Hermione had had a short lived romance with the Bulgarian and that they had remained friends since. However, when he walked into the house and saw his fiancé sitting on the couch next to the professional Quidditch player, almost so close that she could've been sitting on his lap, he just about lost it. It took every ounce of will power he had to keep his temper from overcoming him and rushing the man. Instead he simply cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Ahem." Draco said, gaining the attention of the room's occupants and watched as the smile on Hermione's face faded almost instantly. He saw her jump back away from Viktor as quickly as possible.

"Draco, um, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked him, a look of fear, confusion, and embarrassment appearing blatantly on her face.

"I think that I should be asking you the same question, _Granger._" He replied, casting a glare of jealous hatred towards Viktor, who sat next to Hermione with a look of confusion in his eyes. He turned his attention back towards Hermione and glared at her. She knew by the stress of her last name that he was angry.

"Sorry to interrupt Lupin, but I need to speak with my _fiancé _for a moment please." He said, clenching his jaw and emphasizing the word fiancé. Remus looked back and forth between the two and simply nodded.

Hermione muttered an apology to Viktor and Remus and quickly strode from the room, following Draco into a spare room down the hall. She walked past him into the room and stood in the middle of the room, her arms crossed. Draco waited for her to come in and slammed the door behind them, keeping his back towards her for fear that he would lose control if he faced her. Hermione opened her mouth to speak but was beat to it before she could say a word.

"So that was the 'information' then was it? Is that why you snuck out of the house this morning while I was asleep after I thought we had agreed that you weren't going to come?" Draco said, his head lowered, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched, trying desperately to keep his emotions in check.

"No Draco I swear I had no idea that Viktor was going to be here. I didn't even know that he was associated with the Order till a few moments ago!" Hermione said in defense. Draco twirled around to face her, his icy blue eyes filled with jealous rage. "And besides, _Malfoy_, I dont recall ever AGREEING that I was not going to attend...YOU said I wasnt and I said that I was and guess what, here I am!"

"Oh and that's why you were just oh so cozy with the git? Damn Granger, any closer and you might as well have been in his bloody lap!" He said, his voice raising in anger.

"Draco don't start! Viktor and I are JUST FRIENDS and you bloody well know that! If I wanted to be with him I never would've been with you and I sure as bloody hell wouldn't have said yes when you proposed!" Hermione yelled back at him, angry now that not only did he follow her but now he was practically accusing her of cheating.

They stood there for a few minutes, neither speaking but staring at each other with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Both were absolutely fuming. Thoughts were flooding through her brain about the events of recent weeks...they'd had two big fights, both brought on about Hermione wanting to do something that Draco didnt want her to and tried to either talk her out of it or forbid her to do them. Finally Hermione spoke, trying her best to keep her voice as calm as possible, even though she was terrified inside that what she had to say would be the end of it.

"Draco, I love you. But if you are going to blow up every time I try to do anything and try to keep me on a tight leash like a little puppy then….." She took a deep breath and looked away.

"Then what Hermione?" Draco asked, his voice much calmer then before, almost shy. Hermione took another deep breath, feeling a hot tear slide down the side of her face.

"Then maybe we really shouldn't be together." She finally finished, her heart breaking and more tears breaking from her eyes as she looked at the floor, unable and unwilling to look at him.

Draco just stared at her. He could not believe that she had just said something about breaking up.

_After everything they had been through, after all the battles they had fought just to be together, how could she even THINK about breaking it off!_ Draco thought to herself, dumbfounded and speechless. His anger was completely gone and it was now replaced with grief and confusion and sadness. He found himself sliding down the wall behind him and sitting on the floor his head hanging in his hands in utter disbelief.

"So what are you saying Mia? Do you want to end it right here, right now? After everything we've gone through to get here?" Draco asked, not looking up from his hands.

Before Hermione could answer, there was a knock on the door and Viktor peaked his head in slowly.

" 'Mione, is everything alright? I heardloud voicesfrom downstairs." He asked timidly, looking at Hermione with concern and glancing at Draco with contempt. Hermione sniffed and wiped her eyes, putting on her best fake smile.

"Yes, Viktor, everything is alright." She said as calmly as she could.

Viktor looked at her for a moment, knowing that she wasn't being honest, but shook his head anyway.

"Well I just wanted to let you know that the others are here now and they are going to be starting the meeting." He ducked back out of the door, glancing with malice at the blonde on the floor by the wall once more.

Hermione breathed in deeply, trying without success for a moment to compose herself. She leaned back against the desk that resided on the side of the room and lowered her head allowing a couple more stray tears to fall down her cheeks before wiping them away fiercely and smoothing out her shirt.

"We'll talk about this later, Draco. Right now I have an important meeting to attend and I would like it if you accompanied me downstairs." She said quietly, standing up and once more trying to compose her disposition so she would not draw attention to herself during the meeting.

Draco didn't answer so she simply walked slowly and quietly from the room, leaving Draco to his thoughts. After the door closed behind her, Draco broke down and cried silently for a couple minutes. He didn't like to cry, that was an emotion he was still unfamiliar with but what Hermione just said to him nearly tore his heart in two. Finally, a long five moments later, he lifted himself from the ground, regained his composure and walked downstairs to join the meeting.

Walking into the dining room where the meeting was starting, he noticed that only a select few of the members were around the table---Remus Lupin (of course), Ron Weasley (another of course since it was dealing with Hermione), Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Viktor Krum, Hermione and another girl about Hermione's age that Draco didn't recognize. He slinked into the room and dropped himself silently into an empty seat beside the new girl, looking across the table at Hermione who was seated in between Ron and Viktor Krum and saw her cast him a look of sadness and longing for a moment before returning her attention to Remus who was bringing the meeting to order.


	8. An Unexpected Visitor

**_Important Author's Note (please read!):_ _Hey there all my wonderful readers! I have some possible bad news for everyone. I am unfortunately moving in about 2 days time and will be losing my computer (mostly since it's my mom's and I'm not moving with her). Therefore, this might very well be the last chapter for quite awhile. I promise that I will continue to write it, as well as part 3 of the series when I finish this one. Hopefully someday, sooner rather than later I hope, I will be able to post again. I am so sorry to leave the story hanging like this but unfortunately it's beyond my control. Thank you all for all the beautiful reviews for this story and the first part. It's all you wonderful readers that keep me writing. I hope that everyone will add me to your favorites list so that way you will be the first to know when I get a chance to post again. Hope everyone has a wonderful and special holiday season and please dont forget me! Thank you again!_

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_Chapter Seven: An Unexpected Guest_

The meeting dragged on for Draco for what seemed like hours. So far they hadn't really mentioned anything that either they didn't already know or that wasn't extremely important. It was after about an hour when Remus directed the attention of the group to the new girl that was seated at Draco's right. Every single pair of eyes turned abruptly to the young woman with waist length black hair and piercing green eyes. As Hermione looked at her, she couldn't help but feel like the girl looked familiar. She stared for a moment as the girl fidgeted in her seat, glancing around at everyone and even locked eyes with Hermione for a fraction of a second when it dawned on Hermione why the girl seemed familiar---the eyes. She had those piercing green eyes that looked like etched emeralds and instantly Hermione felt her heart lift as she was reminded of her best friend, the friend that also had those piercing emerald green eyes. She snapped back to reality as the young woman with the emerald eyes and ebony hair as she opened her mouth finally and began to speak softly…so softly it was almost inaudible.

"Um, hello." The girl started, her eyes darting around the table and coming to a rest on her hands which were folded tightly on the table in front of her. "My name is Bethany Monroe. I am 22 years old and I've been in communication with the Order for about five years now, ever since they were able to locate me again and fill me in on the events that were going on."

Hermione dazed out for a moment while the girl continued to introduce herself and caught a glimpse of something that was in the girl's clasped hands….a sterling silver chain with a brilliant golden snitch hanging from it. Hermione stared at it for a few moments and then something on the snitch caught her attention….there was initials engraved on it. She looked closer at it, which was somewhat difficult being on the other side of the table but she squinted hard enough and she could finally make them out and when she did she gasped loudly for there in small black script were the initials HP and HG.

_Oh my gods! How did she get that?_ Hermione thought, her mind reeling with mild anger and confusion

Interrupting the girl's speech, Hermione launched herself from her chair and bolted around the table, her eyes blazing in confusion and anger. The eyes from every single member there were focused now on Hermione as she reached the other side of the table where the girl was sitting. Bethany was staring at her in shock and fear as Hermione grabbed her arm and pulled her stiffly to her feet. Draco stood up from his seat and tried to pull Hermione off of the girl but Hermione shoved him back. She grabbed the necklace from the girl's hand.

"Where did you get this!" Hermione hollered, leaving the rest of the table staring in confusion, while she shook the necklace in the young woman's face.

"Tell me now damn it! Where did you get this necklace?" she screamed again, barely 3 inches from Bethany's face, Hermione eyes clouded with anger and tears spilling from her eyes. Bethany looked at her in confusion and shock but before she could answer, Remus stood up and caught everyone's attention.

"Hermione! What is this about?" Remus asked, his voice raised above that of the angry girl.

"This is Harry's necklace!" She said and heard a couple gasps come from around the table.

"What do you mean Hermione?" Remus asked again. "Are you sure? I mean those snitch necklaces are rather popular."

Hermione held up the necklace to Bethany's face and pointed out the engravings to everyone else. "Look, see? It's engraved…HP and HG. I gave this to him for Christmas last year!" Hermione said again, her voice now cracking as sobs shook her body and she collapsed. Luckily Draco caught her before she hit the floor and she broke into loud sobs in his arms, still clutching the necklace tightly.

The rest of the room suddenly ceased all talking and the only noise that could be heard was the sound of Hermione's sobs. As Draco held on to her, he slowly brought her back to her feet and sat her in a chair, kneeling beside her with her head in his chest. Her sobs slowed down and her breathing became more normal again. Remus took this as an opportunity to address the question that everyone was thinking. He cleared his voice a couple times and finally gained the attention of the others.

"Okay, well I was hoping that this wouldn't happen like this but now that it has, Bethany, I think this is the time to tell everyone who you are." Remus said gently, looking at Bethany who had now sat back down and was looking quite shaken at the events that had just transcribed. All eyes were on her again as she fought to find her voice.

"Um, well, yes. As I was saying, my name is Bethany Monroe. I was adopted when I was four years old because my biological family was in danger and the Order and everyone thought it was the best way to keep me safe." She said, her eyes never leaving her hands which were now wringing themselves nervously on the table. "My real name is Elizabeth….um Elizabeth Potter."

Suddenly the eyes of most of the members grew to twice the normal size and Hermione stared at her in utter disbelief. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Was this woman Harry's sister? A close relative of some sort?

Feeling the tension in the room and understanding everyone's unspoken questions, Remus spoke up, taking over for the nervous young woman.

"I know what you all must be thinking and yes, Elizabeth or Heather as she is known as now, is Harry's biological older sister. Lily and James gave birth to Elizabeth a few months after graduating from Hogwarts. However, when the prophecy was given and the danger became clear for the Potter family when Lily was pregnant with Harry, they discussed things with Dumbledore and everyone agreed that the best thing was to hide her out with a new family in hopes that Voldemort would never know what happened to her. She was never in any actual immediate danger as our Death Eater spy at the time informed us, neither female Potter was in actual danger. Voldemort was only seeking James and Harry. Lily chose her fate by refusing to back down and protecting Harry the night they were murdered." Remus explained to the shell-shocked Order members.

"For the past year, Remus has been having me research anything and everything I can find on the Book of the Dead." Bethany continued. "And that is where I guess you come in, Hermione."

Hermione looked shocked again as Harry's unknown sister directed the conversation to her. She was still sitting in the chair beside her with Draco directly behind her in a chair that he pulled up. She was still clutching Harry's necklace in her hand but her crying had stopped and now she was listening intently.

"We've decided, after many months of planning, to attempt another mission into Malfoy Manor to try and get to that book. Being that we all now know the story of that book, Hermione, we need you on this one." Remus continued, looking directly at Hermione who nodded almost eagerly since she'd been waiting for an opportunity like this one for months. Draco, however, did not seem at all pleased with the idea of his pregnant fiancé going back to that place after what happened there before--especially in her condition.

The meeting went on for about another 30 minutes and everyone began dispersing till the only ones left in the house were Draco, Hermione, Ron, Bethany, and Remus. The five were sitting at the dining room table still, sipping on coffee and tea and munching on some delicious pastries that Mrs. Weasley had made and Ron had nabbed and brought over. Hermione and Bethany were talking quietly to each other, getting to know about each other. Hermione learned that Harry never really knew his sister. He had only even learned that she existed a couple of years ago and Hermione began wondering why he never mentioned it. Apparently reading her thoughts, Bethany told her that it was because the Order thought it best that no body find out just in case anything got back to Voldemort that she was still alive somewhere and tried to get to her and use her for leverage against Harry.

Bethany told her that after Harry's death the previous February, Professor McGonagall had sent her the necklace so that she would have something special to remind her of her brother who she never got a chance to meet. She knew that it had been a gift from Hermione because in the many letters that the two had shared, Harry had told her almost everything about Hermione.

"Hermione," Bethany began. "I just wanted to tell you thank you."

"For what? I haven't done anything." Hermione said, slightly confused.

"Just for being there for Harry when I wasn't able to. As a big sister, I guess it should've been my job to watch out for him and try to protect him so I thank you for doing it for me. And for loving him." She told Hermione. Hermione looked down at her hands at that, sighing loudly.

"He loved you very much, Hermione. And all he'd ever wanted was for you to be happy, no matter what. I just thought you might need to hear it." Bethany told her, touching Hermione's arm gently. Hermione nodded solemnly.

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A little while later, Ron and Bethany had both left, leaving Draco and Hermione alone in Grimmauld Place. Draco got up and prepared to go home as well. He walked over to where Hermione was still sitting, staring solemnly into her cup of tea, twirling it around absentmindedly with a spoon.

"Mia, honey, come on. It's getting late. Lets go home." He said, hoping that she had forgotten their earlier argument. He was tired and all he wanted to do was go home and make love to Hermione and then fall asleep in her arms. Hermione lifted her head slightly and just stared at him for a moment.

"Alright, but we need to finish our conversation from earlier." Hermione said, getting up from her chair, breaking her gaze from Draco and leaving the house…Draco following closely behind.

The couple apparated back to their house and they both walked towards their bedroom like normal. They changed into their nightclothes and were just about to climb into bed groggily when Hermione suddenly stopped abruptly.

"Draco, I think perhaps that one of us should sleep somewhere else tonight." She said quietly, her heart aching with every word. She didn't want to sleep without him but after what happened earlier, she wasn't even sure about anything anymore and she knew that being next to him in their bed wouldn't help her figure things out.

Draco looked at her in complete shock, his mouth sitting open as he just stared at her.

"What?" He asked, hoping that he really didn't hear her correctly. "Please tell me you aren't serious about that!"

As Draco stood on the other side of their bed staring dumbfounded at her, Hermione made her point by picking her robe back up from the edge of the bed and slipping it over her shoulders. She turned and headed towards the guest room that was attached to their own room.

"Where are you going? You can not be serious, Hermione! We're engaged to be married, we bought this house together and now you're going to sleep in another room? What in the bloody hell is your problem lately? And please, for the love of the gods, do not throw some stupid "it's hormones" rubbish at me either because I am not buying it!" Draco said, rushing towards the door before she could get to it and blocking her path.

"Draco," Hermione pleaded, not wanting to get into another fight at the moment.

"No Hermione. I want to know whats going on with you…with us for that matter! We were just fine until you got that bloody letter from Hogwarts and now you're even sneaking out while I'm sleeping to go to some stupid meeting? Not to mention getting all cuddly with some Bulgarian git that you claim is "just a friend". Seriously, Hermione, tell me what you want because I really don't get it." Draco bellowed at her, rooted firmly in place, refusing to move until she talked to him.

Hermione sighed. "Fine Draco. You want to know whats going on? Fine, I'll tell you what's going on! Ever since I got that blasted letter from McGonagall, you've been acting entirely selfish! Ever since that stupid attack, ever since we found out we're having a baby, you've been treating me like your bloody property! You practically refuse to let me do anything and I'll be damned if I simply lay down and let you treat me like that!" She spat.

"Well how the bloody hell do you expect me to act, Hermione! You were almost killed! You are caring mine, OUR, daughter and you just don't seem to care one way or the other! You don't even want to acknowledge that you're pregnant! Tell me Hermione, would you feel so much better if that never happened?" Draco shot back at her, his emotions getting the best of him.

Hermione glared at him. Did she really wish that she had never found out she was pregnant? Did she really not care? Did she really want things to end between them? Her mind was running a million miles a minutes with questions and for the first time in her life, she did not have any of the answers. Her stone façade faltered and her eyes softened. She turned from Draco, not wanting to look him in the eyes because she knew that if she did, she'd never be able to say anything. Taking a deep breath, she spoke, quietly and as calmly as she could.

"Draco, I love you, I really do. But lately I've just been confused. I know that I love you and I want to be with you but recently I've been feeling almost smothered. I feel like ever since I found out I'm pregnant I've totally lost all sight of who I am. Normally I would jump at any chance to jump in the face of danger and wouldn't hesitate to go into the middle of a battle just because I was needed. But now, it's like you treat me like some "precious treasure" who will break if I do anything but sit still. That's not me, Draco, and if you don't know that by now, after knowing me for over seven years, then you really don't know me at all." By this time, Hermione's eyes were starting to fill with moisture and she was fighting to hold everything back.

"And exactly where does that leave me? While you are out there risking not only your own life but our child's life as well, what am I supposed to do? Just sit back and hope that you both come back alright? No, Hermione, I'm sorry but I cant do that. I cant just sit back and watch as you risk my family's lives! I don't think so, it's not gonna happen!" Draco yelled back at her, unable to fathom how she can be so selfish about the whole thing.

"So what do you plan to do? Keep me locked up in the house or follow me around and spy on me all the time? I wont tolerate that Draco!" She shot back at him.

"Oh, okay, so I'm just supposed to tolerate you running around and going on dangerous missions that could endanger our daughter? Yea that just makes so much bloody sense Hermione! Would you listen to yourself for once!"

"No, Draco, maybe you should listen to yourself! How the bloody hell would you feel if something happened to you and all of a sudden I started trying to forbid you to live your life and do what you are supposed to do? This is my LIFE Draco! This is what I do and you KNEW that before we got involved!"

"I know, and I love that about you but I cannot and will not sit by and watch you put our child in danger! Just like this new mission they were discussing tonight! You've been in there, you know what goes on and what the Death Eaters can do and yet you'd eagerly jump back into the fire and go through it all again! Have you forgotten what happened last time you were there, Hermione?" Draco shot out and almost immediately regretted bringing it up as Hermione's face contorted into a look of hatred and heartbreak.

"How dare you!" She growled at him, her eyes glaring into his own. "How dare you bring Harry's death into this argument! Do you honestly believe that I've forgotten? That I don't think about that day every single day and night of the past seven months? I blame myself for that almost every day…Harry was my best friend, Draco! Something you wouldn't know anything about!" She yelled at him, her anger boiling over.

Draco stepped back from her, a look of fear on his face as he watched Hermione's anger grow with each word she spoke. And as her anger grew, she began to emit a light blue glow. He'd never seen anything like it and he was almost terrified to ever see it again. He wasn't sure what was happening but he definitely did not like it.

"Hermione, Mia, honey please calm down. Sweetheart, I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up." Draco said softly, trying to calm her down enough to get rid of the frightening glow. After about a minute, the glow subsided and Hermione (who apparently had no idea that she had been glowing) turned on her heel and walked directly to the wardrobe on the other side of the room, throwing it open and pulling out her old school trunk, which had been shrunk to fit easily on the top of the wardrobe. Draco watched as she began yanking clothing off of the hangers and tossing them hastily into the trunk that was now full size again. He approached her carefully.

"Mia, what are you doing?" He asked quietly. He could tell she was still angry and he did not want to push her buttons again.

"What the bloody hell does it look like Malfoy? Its called 'packing', you moron. Its what you do when you are leaving and need your things with you." She told him, continuing to pack, with anger evident in her ragged voice.

"Packing for what? Where are you going?" He asked, starting to become nervous.

"I'm leaving, Malfoy. After all you said, I've come to realize that this _thing _that we had has gone on far too long." She told him, closing the trunk and locking it with her wand. Draco looked at her stunned, unable to believe she was really going to leave him.

"Mia, honey, please. It was just a fight, a stupid fight. I'm sorry that I said that about Harry, it was over the line and uncalled for. Please, baby, don't leave." He asked her, trying to take her hand but she just jerked away from his touch and shrunk her trunk again, bending over to pick it up and placed it on a near by table.

"No, Draco. I have to do this. This is just the way it's supposed to be. We are not supposed to be together and slowly it's becoming evident to me that we are simply too different." She told him, transfiguring her robe and pajamas into jeans, trainers, and a sweater. She picked up her shrunken trunk and placed it into her pocket, shoving her wand in her back pocket. She walked over to the bedroom door, Draco just watching her the whole time unsure of exactly what was going on…it was just too unbelievable to him.

Just as she reached the door and was about to walk from the room, she stopped suddenly and lowered her head, but did not turn to face him.

"I'm sorry Draco. This was not how I was intending this to go. I just want you to know that I really do love you and I probably always will." With that said, she walked from the room leaving Draco standing there speechless and teary-eyed.


	9. Dreams and Regrets

_**Chapter Eight: Dreams and Regrets**_

Hermione Flooed to Grimmauld Place, not wanting to chance another trip to a motel after what happened last time. She was sitting down on the bed in her room (the room Harry had delegated to her after he inherited the house) staring at the floor. She glanced at her left hand and began tearing up when she looked at the ring that was still on her finger.

_I cant believe I just left him._ Hermione thought to herself_. How in the world could I do that? I love him so much but it's just becoming too much and I don't know how to handle it!_

She laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow was the planned date for the mission back to the Manor….the place that Hermione never really wanted to see again. And worse than that, Draco was part of the mission.

_How am I going to be able to face him after what just happened?_ She thought to herself as she closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, feeling an uneasy feeling of longing for the missing piece of her soul.

Back at the Granger/Malfoy house, Draco was lying awake in bed as well. His mind was spinning with the recollections of the moments that had passed only an hour before. He laid there, staring at the ceiling, his mind replaying the moment she walked out the door over and over again.

_How could I just let her walk out? Why didn't I stop her? Bloody hell, I'm so stupid that I couldn't even try to stop the woman I love from leaving me!_ Draco thought to himself, beating himself up mentally for the events that had just transpired

His mind traveled to the mission that was quickly approaching and he had no idea what he was going to do when he saw Hermione the next night. What he wanted to do was rush into Grimmauld Place and sweep her into his arms, begging her to come home again, but that would be weak and Malfoy's never ever showed weakness. But then again, he'd been going against practically everything he'd ever been raised 'as a Malfoy' to do….including falling in love with a Mudblood. Continuously fighting with his own mind, he drifted off into an uneasy sleep, empty without the part of him that was missing from the bed beside him.

Both Hermione and Draco found themselves in an unusual dream, neither truly realizing that they were indeed sharing the same dream from their separate beds on separate sides of the country.

_They found themselves standing on separate balconies, overlooking a deep, rolling blue ocean and facing each other at an angle. They were close enough to see each other clearly and here each other speak softly but were still out of reach of each other. As they stared at each other, scenes began to unfold in the night air between the two balconies._

_They watched as the two of them arrived at Hogwarts, both looking slightly nervous but with a forced confidence on their faces. The two children in the 'vision' stood among the group waiting to be sorted. They watched as their two younger counterparts exchanged a glance at each other and quickly turned back to the ceremony._

_The 'vision' faded away and was replaced with a couple of slightly older looking copies of themselves. They were standing on the Quidditch Pitch. The Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were both there and Hermione was standing to the side along with Ron as Draco and Harry exchanged a couple of words and then as Draco and Hermione exchanged a couple of words and Hermione ran off almost in tears, Harry and Ron following close behind. They both knew exactly when that scene was for they both remembered the day too well….it was in second year and the first time that Draco had called Hermione a Mudblood._

_The vision faded again and the pair were greeted with a site of the 'Golden Trio' confronting Draco and his cronies outside on the grounds. Hermione's wand was pointed directly at Draco's throat but instead of cursing or jinxing him, she turned around, as if she were leaving and then at the last moment, she swung her fist around and connected it with Draco's jaw. Adult Hermione snickered as she watched the scene remembering the day as it was one of her best memories at Hogwarts._

_They flashed through a few more scenes randomly picked from their years at Hogwarts, a lot of moments from their seventh year…including the fateful day that Hermione's world came crashing down on her at Malfoy Manor as well as graduation day on the Quidditch pitch when Draco proposed._

_After the proposal vision, the visions began to change slightly. Instead of showing the past they began showing something that had never happened…yet at least. It showed Hermione and Draco facing off in the streets of Godric's Hollow. Hermione was surrounded by Order members and Draco was surrounded with Death Eaters, each group pointing their wands at the other with Draco and Hermione in the middle. They were separated by a good 10 ft or so from their groups and were staring at each other intensely, both gripping their wands tightly. In the other visions of the past, they couldn't hear anything being said…they could only see the actions but this time was different._

"_It didn't need to come down to this Malfoy." Hermione's vision self was saying, her eyes locked on Draco's, her wand pointed directly at his heart, her voice stern but quivering slightly. She looked completely in control but her eyes gave away how completely heartbroken she was._

"_You're right, Granger, it didn't. But you made this choice when you left me. When you left, I had nothing left to lose. You were my everything and instead you chose to walk away and never look back." Draco replied to her, his eyes equally stern but heartbroken as well, focused directly on hers, his composure holding as well as possible and his wand pointed at her heart as well._

_The two faced off, neither moving from their position. The groups behind them however seemed to be growing restless and before either of them knew it they were in the middle of an all out battle between the sides. They broke their positions and began launching themselves in the surrounding battles._

_As the two 'real' people watched their vision counterparts, they were both shocked and disturbed by what they were witnessing. Then the picture before them began to slow down slightly as if they were watching a movie in slow motion. They watched as the battle dust parted slightly and they saw them facing each other once again, their wands pointed directly at each other, a look of sheer heartbreak mixed with hatred etched on both of their faces. Suddenly Ron dashed out from behind Hermione, his wand pointed at Draco and sent a spell in his direction which Draco easily dodged. Draco sent an Avada Kedavra towards Ron but Ron, not realizing that Hermione was still standing directly behind him, dodged the curse barely and it struck a shocked Hermione directly in the chest. She fell to the ground in slow motion as Draco looked on at what he had just done. He rushed to Hermione's side and pulled her lifeless body to his own._

"_Oh gods, what have I done?" Draco muttered as the vision began to fade away again into nothingness._

In separate beds, the two woke up with a start at the same time. Neither understood exactly what they had dreamed, nor did they realize that they were both sharing the same exact dream. Pale colored light filtered into their rooms as the sun began to sneak up the horizon as they both laid wide awake in their separate rooms, both staring at their ceilings, pondering the meaning of the dream they had just experienced. Was it showing the future? Or was it warning them about what could happen if they followed the path they were currently starting on? On both ends, the separated couple began thinking about the things that had transpired over the past few weeks.

_I miss her so much,_ Draco thought to himself as he stared at his ceiling, playing absentmindedly with the Malfoy ring on his hand._ I hope that the dream was just a warning because I would never be able to live if anything happened to her._

_I miss him so much,_ Hermione thought to herself, staring at her ceiling and absentmindedly twirling her engagement ring around her finger_. Maybe this isn't the way that things were supposed to go. Maybe I should never have left last night._

The two laid in silence for a couple of hours, both wondering how the other was doing and whether the other missed them. Finally, almost at the same time, they both raised from their beds and set forth getting ready for the day. Remus had instructed Ron, Draco, Bethany, Hermione, and the others that were present at the meeting the night before to return to Grimmauld Place by 4 in the afternoon that day to begin to discuss strategies and whatnot for that night's mission. They had decided to attack at night so that they would have the cloak of darkness to aid them.

Hermione took a hot shower to help wash away the images of the dream she had. Throwing on some random clothing (just a pale blue baby tee and black dance pants) she headed downstairs to make something to eat. After eating some cereal she conjured up with her wand (since the kitchen seemed to be barren) she retired to the sitting room and curled up on the couch with a book she had found upstairs in the study. Before long, however, she had dozed off back to sleep…not from tiredness but mostly from sheer boredom.

Draco on the other hand couldn't eat anything, his heart and his mind were hurting too much because of the events of the night before. His dream still haunted him and he was constantly reminded of the image of the green light hitting Hermione directly in the chest and her collapsing to a lifeless heap on the ground. He stalked around the house most of the day, his mind in a sort of daze.

Finally the time reached four in the afternoon and Draco lazily started to get ready for the night's events. He went to his wardrobe and changed into simple black jeans and a long sleeved, deep green turtleneck and placed his black trainers on his feet. He slicked his hair back stylishly, so that it wasn't hanging in his eyes but it wasn't plastered to his head either. It was a style he had picked up during the last year of school and Hermione had always seemed found of it, though she much rather preferred him to leave it hanging so she could run her fingers through it. Making sure his wand was safely stored in his pocket, he went to his desk to retrieve something from the drawer. With all the events of the past evening, Draco had almost forgotten that it was September 19--Hermione's birthday and even though they were fighting at the moment, he still wanted to be sure that he gave her the present that he had purchased a few weeks ago when he found out they were expecting. Shoving the small velvet box in his pocket, he glanced at his watch--4: 30, and Flooed to Grimmauld Place.

When he arrived at headquarters and saw that only Remus and Bethany were there. He looked around for Hermione, wanting to give her the present and tell her he was sorry. He finally spotted her in the sitting room, fast asleep with her head lying on the arm of the couch and a book laying open in front of her. She looked like an angel to him and he could not believe he had ever been so lucky as to have a woman like her in his life and he was determined not to let her go again.

Hermione awoke with a start, hearing voices in the other part of the house which meant that the other members would be arriving shortly. She stretched her arms over her head, arching her back as she did, and stood up, setting her book down on the coffee table in front of her. As she looked up from the table, she stopped and stared at the person staring back at her. Hermione wasn't sure if she was ready to face Draco just yet but now that he was here and standing right in front of her in an empty room, she sighed as she knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid him.

"Draco." She said, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Mia." Draco replied, trying to do the same thing. "Happy birthday by the way." He pulled the box from his pocket and stepped forward towards her while Hermione held her breath trying not to jump into his arms and tell him that she was sorry and beg him to let her come home.

He handed the box to her and she looked him in surprise. She hadn't really expected anything after leaving last night and she was so happy that he even remembered. Hermione carefully opened the black velvet box and gasped at the beautiful silver, diamond, emerald, and ruby bracelet that shone out from the black satin interior of the box. She ran her fingers over the delicate stones gently.

"Oh Draco," She said quietly, looking up to see Draco's eyes staring back into hers. "Thank you. It's beautiful."

"You're welcome Mia." Draco replied, looking away. "So um, how are you? I missed you last night. Our bed was so cold without you in it." He stared at a spot on the wall.

"I'm alright, I guess…considering." She answered, also turning away from him. "I missed you too." She said almost inaudibly.

She walked from the room, clutching the jewelry box, and sat down at the dining room table next to Ron who had just arrived as well. When she sat down, Ron slid her a small, satin gold bag and whispered a small "Happy birthday 'Mione." She opened it up and found a delicate gold locket. She opened it up and found a picture of Ron on one side of it and a picture of Harry and Hermione from the New Years Gala, all three of them smiling up at her from the inside of the locket. Closing it again and flipping it over she found a small engraving that said _'Together Forever'_. Her eyes teared up slightly… '

'_Together forever' huh? _She thought to herself sadly. _Well I'm living proof that nothing last forever anymore._

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**A/N: hehe well apparently I managed to get another chapter done after all! I'm actually working on chapter 9 now as well so maybe, hopefully, I can get it done by tomorrow but we'll see! Thanks again for the wonderful reviews!**


	10. Back Into the Fire

**A/N: Well here's another chapter for you all. I said I would try to get as much done as possible so I hope that these chapters arent too bad since I wrote them so quickly...I think this is the third chapter I've finished in the last two days lol! Anyway, same thing still applies and I still dont know how much longer I have with the computer but I'll do as much as possible!

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_Chapter Nine: Back into the Fire_**

A couple of hours later, the group of members were all congregated and preparing themselves for the task at hand. Tonight was not about war, not about attacking the Death Eaters. Tonight's mission's main goal was simply to get the book and get out of there. They all knew that they would be fighting because, well, that was common sense…they were going straight into the heart of Voldemort's new lair which would undoubtedly be swarming with his followers and more than likely, Voldemort himself would be there, but honestly, Hermione was wishing and praying with everything she had that Voldemort would not be. She was no where near ready to see him again after what happened the last time.

The group launched into another tactics argument and Hermione zoned herself out of the conversation. She had so much fluttering around in her mind it was making her dizzy. She stood up and excused herself for a moment, walking into the sitting room. She sat herself down in her favorite love seat facing backwards towards the window and took a deep breath.

Her mind spun rapidly around in circles, thoughts mulling themselves into a violent array of images. She thought about the fight that she had with Draco the night before, the dream she had that seemed so real, the mission that she was about to go on, Harry death at the same place she was going to just a few months before, the baby that she was carrying and how uncertain she still felt about it. It was all just too much for her, the normally level-headed, had an answer for everything, girl that she had always been. Suddenly she felt her stomach lurch and felt nauseous. She jumped from her seat and darted towards the bathroom which unfortunately was not only up stairs a bit but the only path was straight through the dining room where the other members were still congregated. Hermione didn't want to rush through that room in the state she was in but right at the moment she sure didn't want to get sick in the middle of the sitting room either.

She darted as quickly as possible, hoping that she would make it to the bathroom before she lost it, through the dining room causing the entire table to take notice of her and follow her with their eyes. Most of the members simply thought it was her nerves getting the best of her and went back to their conversation but Draco was immediately worried, as was Ron who also knew of her condition. Viktor also watched her concernedly because she was his friend and that's what friends did, they worried about each other's well being. Draco cast a look at Ron who understood and immediately followed his friend up the stairs.

Ron knew that Hermione was pregnant and also that there was some massive tension between her and Draco so he understood why Draco was not rushing after her. He climbed the stairs briskly and stopped at the first landing where the closest bathroom was located. Approaching the door, he heard the unmistakable sound of someone being sick and knocked softly on the door.

" 'Mione? You okay?" He asked through the door, trying to keep as quiet as he could so the others downstairs could not overhear.

"Yea, Ron, I'm fine. Just nerves I think." Hermione's quivering voice came through the door.

Ron stayed quite for a moment before continuing. "Hermione, it's alright. You don't have to lie." He said.

"I'm not lying Ronald. Wouldn't you be a little nervous in my position right now?" She said back sternly.

" 'Mione, you are lying. But it's alright, I understand." He paused, pondering if he should let her know that he knew. "I _know_."

There was a deafening silence on the other side of the door as Hermione's eyes widened.

_He couldn't he? Not unless someone told him……._Hermione thought to herself._ I'll kill Draco!_

Ron heard the sink running for a split moment and then suddenly the door opened revealing a shocked looking Hermione. They stood completely still for a moment, staring at each other. Suddenly Hermione surprised Ron by throwing herself into his arms. Ron just wrapped his arms around her in understanding as Hermione started crying on his shoulder.

"Oh Ron. I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" She said through her sobs. "I'm just so scared about all this. It's too much for me to handle."

"It's alright 'Mione." He told her, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Are you sure you should go along with this tonight?"

Draco walked onto the landing at that moment, to come check on Hermione. He wanted Ron to go first and talk to her in hopes that when he came along, she would be calmed down enough to talk to him. He looked down the miniature hallway and saw Hermione and Ron talking animatedly about the mission.

"Yes Ron," She answered almost angrily, stepping out of the embrace. "I am not backing out. This is my job. People, lots and lots of people, are counting on me and I wont, I cant, let them down."

Draco stopped at the landing and watched the two friends for a moment, noticing that neither had noticed his presence yet.

"But Hermione, what about the…" Ron started to ask.

"No, Ron. I don't want to think about that right now. I don't even know how I feel about it yet. With Draco and I splitting up, it's just, I don't know….strange and awkward to know that I have our child growing inside me during all this." Hermione said, choking back the sobs that were starting again as she thought of Draco.

Draco stayed watching them, a look of complete shock and heartbreak on his features as he heard Hermione say they were 'splitting up'. He knew that they were having some problems lately but he never would have even fathomed a thought that this really could be the end of their relationship. He felt his heart shattering at her words and it began to enrage him that she could throw everything away over a couple misunderstanding arguments and not only that…but that she didn't even have the audacity to talk to him about it first!

Ron looked at Hermione in shock at her words as well. He had never really liked Draco nor did he really like the fact that Hermione was with him but he knew that Draco loved her, no matter what happened between them in the past and he had always believed that Hermione loved Draco as well.

"What do you mean 'splitting up' 'Mione? I thought you two were happy together? What happened between the two of you?" Ron asked, voicing his confusion.

Draco jumped in before Hermione could answer her friend. He was completely livid at what he had just heard.

"Yes _Granger_, please do tell us what happened because I for one am completely lost here." Draco said, walking over angrily to where Ron and Hermione were standing, Hermione's eyes wide open in shock at seeing Draco had overheard them.

Hermione looked back and forth between her best friend and her lover. She didn't really know what to say or why she said that what she did. She didn't really want things to be over between them but lately it felt like they had been slipping farther and farther away from each other and after her dream last night, she was terribly frightened of what might happen either way. She glanced back at Draco and found him staring directly at her, anger, hurt and confusion etched into his usually gorgeous blue eyes.

Ron watched his friend in confusion. It was more than apparent that Draco did not seem to have any clue about them splitting up as she had just said. Which in itself seemed peculiar because, well, if they were splitting wouldn't both parties have known so? Apparently whatever was going on through Hermione's mind, Draco was clueless about it.

"Hermione, may I have a word with you…" Draco said through his clenched teeth, and nodding towards a confused looking Ron, added, "…_alone_?"

Ron took his cue and quickly began walking away, heading back downstairs while Hermione looked after him, pleading in her mind for him to come back. She wasn't ready to have this conversation with Draco. She had been avoiding him since he got there and really wasn't all that sure what she wanted to do.

"Draco…" Hermione began, turning her face away from Draco's piercing glare.

"No, Hermione. I don't want to hear it." Draco told her angrily. "What do you mean we're splitting up? Just because of a couple stupid arguments! Do I really mean that little to you to just throw away the last year of our lives?"

"I…I don't know Draco." Hermione stuttered, her back still to him. "And they weren't 'stupid' arguments either! They were fights about your trying to control my life!" She turned back to face him.

"That's rubbish and you know it! I wasn't trying to control your life Hermione! I was trying to protect my family or did you conveniently forget the part that you are pregnant with MY child?" Draco yelled at her, not caring anymore if the whole house heard him.

"Malfoy! Keep your bloody voice down will you! I told you I don't want anyone to know yet! It's bad enough you told Ron of all people but if the rest of them find out they'll never let me do what needs to be done." Hermione said in a harsh whisper, her body trembling in anger.

"No, I will not! You shouldn't be going on this bloody mission anyway Hermione and you bloody well know it! Its dangerous and in your condition you should want to protect yourself but obviously after your previous comments I can safely assume that it means absolutely nothing to you!" Draco yelled back once again, defying her request to keep it down.

"You have no clue what you are talking about as always, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled back, defying her own request. "For your information it happens to mean everything to me! But whether I go or not tonight, the fact of the matter is that he will still be hunting for me and you know it as well as I do that Voldemort always gets what he wants and he wont stop until he has me!"

"And tell me what in the bloody hell does that have to do with us!" Draco replied, lowering his voice but keeping the tone of anger in it. "I know about what he'll do and it hasn't stopped you from being with me before so what's the difference now, Hermione? And please, gods help me, don't give me some bullshit about my being overprotective and trying to control your life because you and I both know that it's not true!"

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but no sound came out. She stared at him, deep into his eyes that were usually so full of love but were filled with hurt and anguish now. While she stared at him, she started thinking about his question and she found that she really didn't have an answer.

_Maybe I'm just scared. _She thought to herself._ Scared of being a mother, scared of what will happen if Voldemort finds out I'm pregnant or worse yet what happens if Voldemort gets to me while I'm pregnant and does something that causes harm to come to my baby._

"I'm scared…" She whispered, lowering her head and breaking her gaze. Draco looked at her questionably but then his expression changed to understanding as he watched her façade break.

Draco took the opportunity to step forward to meet her. He wrapped his arms protectively around her shoulders, pressing her closer to him and leaning over to rest his head on hers. He stroked her hair comfortingly and whispered his understanding.

"Baby, it's alright to be scared. I'm sorry if I seemed overprotective and controlling but I'm scared too." Draco murmured to her. "I'm terrified of what could happen to you if I'm not there to protect you and our daughter."

He tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. He found them filled with tears and fear. Draco stroked her tearstained cheek lovingly.

"Please, Mia." He said gently, piercing her honey eyes with his own. "Please don't leave me. Let me protect you, let me take care of you. I would die if anything ever happened to you and you know I would give my life in a heartbeat to keep you safe."

Hermione searched his ice blue eyes with her own and found that they were once again filled with love and understanding. She reached her hand up slowly and caressed his cheek which she found was also tearstained as well. Not breaking her gaze she softly whispered to him.

"I'm sorry I doubted you, Draco. You're right, I do know that you would do anything for me and that's what scares me. I'm so terrified that something will happen to you when Voldemort tries to get to me. Just promise me something, please?" Hermione asked timidly, her eyes never leaving his.

"Anything, Mia." He replied without hesitation.

"Promise me that you'll always be here. That'll you always be there to help me and protect me, no matter what happens?" She said quietly.

Draco took the moment to lean down and press a tender kiss on her lips. Hermione melted into his arms as his lips met her own in an unspoken promise. She knew at that moment that she had known his answer all along--he would always be there, no matter what. Hermione ran her hands up and entertwined them behind his head, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss. After what felt like an eternity, the two broke apart and Hermione allowed a small smile to graze her lips.

"Well, what do you say we get this over with?" Hermione asked, still smiling, no longer effected by her fear. As long as Draco was always waiting for her with his arms wide open, she knew she'd never be afraid again.

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Thirty minutes later, the members gathered outside Grimmauld Place under a huge oak tree that sat in the backyard. Since the house itself held massive anti-Apparating spells, the group had to go outside to apparate. Holding onto Hermione's hand tightly, he glanced down at her and gave her a supportive smile and then the group apparated away.

They landed in front of Malfoy Manor, the sight glaring back at Hermione like it had so many times before in her nightmares. This was definitely the last place in the entire world she ever wanted to be again and the one place she knew she had to return to. Before the group set off for the concealed dungeon entrance that Draco had informed them about before leaving, Hermione took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves once again. The other members began to make their way towards the hidden entrance but Hermione stood almost frozen in place as she stared up at the unwelcoming look of the Manor. She felt her legs grow weak and her heart felt as if it would beat straight out of her chest. Just as she felt like she was about to collapse, she felt a tight squeeze on her hand and looked up to see Draco staring down at her, a reassuring smile on his lips even though his own fear was showing in his eyes. She squeezed his hand back and, tightening her grip on her wand, they two made their way along with the others back into the fires of hell.


	11. Darkness

_**Chapter Ten: Darkness**_

The group maneuvered it's way through the servants' entrance and began the intricate journey through the dungeons below Malfoy Manor. Hermione kept flashing back moments of her last encounter here and Draco kept having to pull her along to snap her out of her reverie. Remus had instructed the other members to travel tightly around Hermione and Draco, who were shoved towards the middle of the group in order to keep the most protection possible on Hermione.

The group had approached the third flight landing in the detailed maze of dungeons when they heard the murmur of voices coming from somewhere close by. Hearing the voices herself, Hermione froze in mid-stride, a sudden look of past fear playing on her usually bright features. She clamped her hand down around Draco's and moved herself closer to him. She felt another hand on her shoulder which caused her to practically jump from her skin until she realized that it was just Ron coming closer and standing behind her.

The voices wound their way closer to the group that was standing at the ready in the middle of the landing, eyes scanning each possible direction and trying to keep Hermione as concealed as possible. Hermione was torn between the fear of being back in that gods forsaken dungeon and wanting to jump out through the guard and launch into battle which was her usual manner. Finally, the usual demeanor broke free from the suppressed fear and she pushed Ron back from her slightly, loosened her grip on Draco's hand and gripped her wand tighter. She heard the voices approaching them and suddenly they came into view and one of the hooded figures spotted them and the other turned to run off and alert the others.

The remaining figure immediately began firing off multiple curses in the direction of the intruders however, he was easily overpowered by the Order members.

"You three! Take Hermione and head towards the lower chambers! Go NOW!" Remus screamed at Draco, Ron and Viktor who were closest in proximity to Hermione.

Draco grabbed a hold of Hermione's hand and began tearing a course towards the lower chambers of the vast dungeon. Hermione on the other hand had an irking feeling that going down further was the wrong way to go and suddenly pried her hand from Draco's and jetted in the opposite direction. The boys looked at each other before dashing off after her calling her name as she seemed to gain more speed than would have seemed possible.

"Hermione!" The screams of the boys sounded behind her as Hermione tore through the dungeon corridors. She had no clue where she was going but something seemed to be pulling her towards this direction.

The eerie glow of the few torches that seemed to illuminate the corridors were coming fewer and farther in between each other leaving large gaps of almost pitch black darkness. Hermione didn't even think about casting a 'Lumos' spell however because she was keeping her wand free in case she needed to use it. The voices behind her were becoming quieter as they grew farther away from her. Suddenly something told her to stop. She obeyed her instincts and no sooner did she halt her footsteps did the remaining few torches flicker out and she was thrust into pitch black darkness.

The darkness surrounded her on all sides, with absolutely no light at all to be seen. The darkness was piercing through her senses and she could almost feel it overwhelming her. Her hearing seemed to heighten itself and she could hear her heart beat as if it were echoing throughout the cold dark dungeon. She listened intently and heard the sound of distant water, seemingly running from a tap. Just as she was about to move and head towards the sound, a pair of strong hands grabbed her from behind around her waist and her scream pierced through the darkness, echoing off the dungeon walls so loudly she was sure that everyone in the entire manor would have heard her. She felt the hands roughly spin her around and she could tell she was now facing her attacker because she could feel the heat of their breath radiating off her face.

She opened her mouth to scream again and was quickly silenced. Knowing that she couldn't make a sound if she wanted to she instead reverted to trying to fight her attacker off. Hermione began pushing and kicking the strong person holding her and had almost fought her way out of their grasp when she was suddenly struck across the face, knocking her to the ground.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Mudblood. Come back for another round have you? Or have you finally decided to simply give in and give the Dark Lord what he wants?" The attacker's voice asked her from above.

"I would never give that bastard anything!" Hermione screamed back, suddenly finding her voice returned and tried hastily to scramble back to her feet her wand still clutched tightly in her hand.

The Death Eater that was speaking to her opened his mouth to comment but stopped when he heard the approaching sound of voices and footsteps rushing through the nearby corridors.

"So it appears that you have brought help this time, Mudblood. Well that will simply give the Dark Lord more to use to persuade you to do as he wishes." The Death Eater said, a tone of amusement in his raspy voice.

Hermione looked around her cautiously and noticed a very faint glow coming from down one of the corridors. The glow was growing increasingly larger as the footsteps and voices closed in on her location. As the glow from the wand light began to grow brighter, the small intersection that she was in began to lighten a bit as well. Seeing this as an opportunity, she quickly moved her eyes around the area till they came to rest on a person wearing a long black cloak, their hood down and gasped at what she saw.

"There's no way! No possible way…" Hermione stuttered, pointing her wand directly towards her now visible attacker. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

The Death Eater tipped his head back and laughed in a maniacal way. "You foolish Mudblood. You should know that the Dark Lord will repay those who are loyal to him. But enough for now, I cannot allow myself to be seen just yet. Don't worry, dear Mudblood, we will be seeing each other soon enough…._Stupefy_!"

The Death Eater vanished just as he spoke the curse and Hermione felt it strike her in the chest. The room began spinning quickly and then the darkness overwhelmed her.

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Draco led the boys down the corridor. Thanks to his connection to Hermione he was able to pinpoint her location rather easily but now he was worried because he could sense her distress. Viktor and Ron followed behind him quickly as they wound their way through the twisted maze of dungeon corridors till they finally neared the intersection where Draco had felt Hermione. As they stepped into the intersection, Draco scanned the area hastily and saw Hermione laying knocked out on the cold stone floor. The other two noticed her at the same time and all three ran instantly to her side. As Draco leaned down to her, he saw her beginning to stir and her eyelids began to flutter.

"Mia, honey," Draco said gently as he slid his arms underneath her body and lifted her off the cold floor. "Are you alright?"

"Lucius…" Hermione said groggily as she began to regain her consciousness. Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she jumped out of Draco's arms and to her feet so quickly that it felt as if she had simply apparated to a standing position. Draco just looked at her curiously and confused.

"What did you say 'Mione?" Ron asked, not sure he had heard her correctly.

Not answering, she turned on her heel and started to dart off down one of the corridors, stopping for a moment to signal for the boys to come along. The three of them looked at each other momentarily and then took off down the corridor with her, all of them trying to figure out what Hermione was up to. As Hermione rushed along, periodically she would stop and appear to be listening for something and then take off again leaving the others watching her curiously.

Stopping and turning into a small room, Hermione rushed to the middle and started turning around in circles slowly, scanning the room for the presence that she had followed.

"Where are you, you sick, dead bastard! I know you are here!" Hermione shouted into the shadows.

"Mia, sweetheart. What are you doing? Who are you looking for?" Draco asked, stepping closer to Hermione and watching her concernedly.

Hermione ignored his question and kept scanning the room. After a few more moments she stopped abruptly, staring with intensity that could have started a fire into a shadow in the far corner of the small room.

"Come out you bastard. I know you're there!" She screamed at the shadow. The three boys stared at her curiously when suddenly a voice emitted from the shadow causing them to turn towards it, their wands pointed towards it.

"Well, well Mudblood. It appears that my Lord was correct. You are a very powerful, filthy little thing aren't you?" The voice cackled. "And I see you brought my blood-traitor of a son with you, how fitting."

That caught Draco's attention and horror swelled deep inside him.

_It cant be! It's impossible…He thought to himself watching the scene unfold._

Suddenly a dark figure emerged from the shadow and came to stand about ten feet in front of the group. It was clearly a Death Eater but his hood was raised, covering his face so it was not possible to see who the figure was. The figure stepped forward a couple feet and began to slowly lower his hood, keeping his head down and letting the familiar long platinum blonde locks flow from beneath the hood. Draco stared at the Death Eater with shock and confusion.

"Father?" Draco asked, stepping forward a bit. "Its not possible….I killed you!"

"Ah, yes. I remember that night well. You actually almost succeeded but luckily our Lord was merciful and kept me from death with a potion he had discovered previously. The same potion in fact that saved our Lord from certain death when that blasted curse backfired after trying to kill that blasted Potter boy. You see it worked quite well." Lucius replied, lifting his head and staring intently at the exact replica of his own image staring back at him.

Before anyone had a chance to retort or comment, another voice sounded behind the group causing them to spin around. This voice was very familiar and it caused Viktor and Ron to shrink back a little in slight fear. It sounded like a hissing snake and was low and raspy.

The figure stepped out of the shadow and immediately the room erupted in torch light from every wall. The familiar figure tilted its head up and faced the group, a sickening, twisted smirk playing on his serpent like lips.

"Welcome young Mudblood. I have been expecting you to return." Lord Voldemort hissed, motioning something to Lucius who was behind Hermione.

Lucius reached out and grabbed hold of Hermione, leaving her twisting and raging in attempt to free herself from his grasp. Draco launched himself forward to help her but was thrown back by an invisible barrier surrounding Hermione and Lucius.

"You effing bastard! I'll never help you!" Hermione shouted, her anger boiling inside.

Voldemort cackled. "I believe you may change your mind, mudblood. Nott, Goyle. Take the others hostage. We shall use them as a persuasion for the young mudblood. Perhaps after killing them she will change her mind."

The two Death Eaters stepped out into view and quickly disarmed and bound Hermione's friends before any of them could defend themselves. They levitated the hostages to the closest wall and magically binded them to it, leaving them hanging barely an inch off the floor. Hermione never removed her gaze from Voldemort as her friends and her fiance were binded to the wall.

"Now, torture them. Use whatever means you wish but do not kill them just yet." Voldemort ordered the two Death Eaters and immediately the two uttered curses of Crucio at Draco and Viktor causing them to scream out in agony.

"Stop it!" Hermione hollered but caused Voldemort to simply cackle madly as the torture continued. He turned his wand to another corner facing the hostages and conjured a clear box, just big enough for one person to fit uncomfortably. He pointed towards Lucius and ordered him to place Hermione in the box.Lucius obeyed, carrying a screaming and kicking Hermione over to it and shoving her inside, magically locking the box around her. She still had her wand but the box was impenitrable so it was rather useless.

The box itself was designed so that the person confined within would be unable to see anything outside of the box except for light. However, she could hear every scream and cry from her friends. She banged her fists and kicked her legs against the barrier surrounding her but it did nothing of help. The screams were becoming increasingly loud and it tore at her heart to hear her friends in pain...especially because of her. She knew she had to do something but she didnt know what. She thought for a moment and finally decided that she knew what needed to be done.

"Alright! Alright, I'll do it!" Hermione suddenly hollered. "Just let them go!"

Voldemort cackled outside the barrier and suddenly the light and the screams were extinguished leaving Hermione to sink in the darkness that now seemed to envelope her very being.


	12. Daughters of Osiris

**A/N: Hello again everyone! Tonight is the night :( we're moving. Don't know when we'll get internet access again but I wanted to try to get as much done as I could so here's the last chapter for now. I'll miss you all and thank you again so much for all your wonderful reviews and comments! Keep checking periodically coz I'll update whenever I get a chance...I promise!

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_Chapter Eleven: The Daughters of Osiris_

Hermione awoke several hours later, unsure of her whereabouts or even how exactly she had come to be there. She opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in and was in awe. This was definitely not the small, cold, chamber in the Malfoy's dungeons. This room was bright and airy and full of colors. She was lying on a plush queen size bed with gold silk sheets. The sunlight was now pouring happily through an open window.

Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she noticed her wand resting on a cherry wood bedside table. There were clean clothes laying across the white and gold, flowered, chaise lounge sitting catty-corner from the bed. Hermione rose hesitatingly from the bed, cautiously taking in her surroundings, fearing that suddenly they would simply vanish and she'd be back in the dungeon cell that she had been in before. She quickly crossed to the chaise and stripped off her crème satin pajamas, that were covered in simple red roses and designed in an oriental style (which confused her a bit too, that she was no longer in her clothes that she remembered going to the manor in) and replaced her clothing with the ones left for her. There were a gorgeous pair of deep blue denim jeans (Hermione could tell they were definitely expensive) and a deep, hunter green cashmere sweater. It felt warm and soft against her skin and she breathed in the smooth scent deeply.

A sudden knock on the door jerked Hermione from her momentary reverie and she dashed to the bedside table and grabbed her wand. The door opened just as Hermione got her hand around the wand and she whipped around, pointing her wand directly at the woman who was now standing in the doorway. Hermione was shocked to see that she knew the woman.

"Bethany?" Hermione asked. "What are you doing here? Where am I?"

Bethany walked into the room and smiled. "You are at my house." She put up her hand to stop Hermione's question that she knew she was about to ask. "And yes, Draco, Viktor and Ron are all fine. They are downstairs having some breakfast at the moment. You are welcome to join them if you would like to but afterwards we need to have a talk, okay?"

Hermione looked at her curiously for a moment and then nodded at the young raven haired woman. She smiled slightly and darted from the room, anxious to see her friends and her fiancé. She was still confused as to exactly what was going on and how exactly they had gotten there but at the moment she didn't care as long as they all were safe. She made her way through the modest sized house in search of the dining room and when she finally saw it, her eyes lit up at the occupants.

"Draco!" Hermione cried as she saw her fiancé. Draco looked up from his plate and jumped from his chair to greet her. Hermione darted across the large dining room and practically jumped into his arms. He covered her in tender kisses.

"Oh my gods, I was so scared." Hermione mumbled in between kisses. She roamed her hands over his face and through his hair as if she wasn't sure if this was a dream or not.

"I'm here baby. Everything's alright now." Draco murmured to her, stroking her hair and holding her close, completely oblivious to the other occupants of the room until Ron cleared his throat.

"Ahem." Ron coughed, attempting to get their attention. Hermione broke back from the embrace for a moment before dashing around the table to her two friends and pulling them up to her, gathering them in her arms.

"Okay, okay, 'Mione." Ron gasped and tried to pull from her grasp. "You're suffocating me!" The group laughed slightly as Hermione freed Ron and Viktor from her embrace.

The group sat back down at the table and another woman came through the door carrying a plate of delicious looking food and set it down in front of Hermione then rushed back through the door again. Hermione watched after her with curiosity again wondering what in the world was going on. Hermione brushed the thoughts aside for a moment and dug into her breakfast, suddenly realizing that she was starving.

Almost an hour later, the four of them had finished their breakfasts and were just getting up from the table when Bethany came into the dining room.

"Hermione, we would like to speak with you in the sitting room. Could you come with me please?" Bethany asked politely. "You guys could go into the game room…it's just down the hall; third door on the left if you'd like."

Bethany left the room and Draco looked at Hermione. Hermione simply nodded, telling him to go ahead and she would see him in a little while. Draco, Ron and Viktor looked at each other and slowly moved down the hallway as Hermione turned and left through the same door that Bethany just had. She walked down a short hallway and entered through an open door and saw a large sitting room filled with other women. Bethany was sitting on the couch with a couple others and motioned for Hermione to sit in a chair adjacent to them. Hermione sat down timidly, looking around at all the others looking at her. She suddenly felt nervous, not liking the fact that she was oblivious to what was going on. After a couple uncomfortable moments, Hermione finally spoke up, eager for some insight.

"Um so whats going on Bethany? What happened back at the manor? How did we get here and who are all these people?" Hermione rambled off, looking around the room. A slightly older woman seated beside Bethany addressed Hermione's questions.

"This, Hermione," the woman said. "Is the headquarters for the Daughters of Osiris. Everyone in this room has some kind of related tie to the great God Osiris, just as you do."

Hermione looked shocked. "But if everyone here is related to him then why is Voldemort only after me? Why cant he just choose one of you to do his stupid bidding!" Hermione screamed, letting her feelings overwhelm her for a moment.

"The Dark Lord 'chose' you ," the woman continued as if Hermione had never spoken. "Because you are the only one with the direct relation to him. True that we all have some sort of connection to the Great One, but you, Hermione, are the only one directly related by bloodline. And that is why Lord Voldemort has chosen you, because you are the only one who can do what he wants."

Hermione looked around the room completely dumbfounded. _How come they never told me before?_ Was all she could think of for a few moments as the shock wore off.

"So, that's great and all but it still doesn't answer how you found us at the manor last night or how we ended up here." Hermione said matter-of-factly, staring at the woman who had been addressing her.

"Well that is not so easy to explain. See, we have kept a record of every 'daughter' born throughout the wizarding world. You were the first true bloodline daughter born in the last century. We had thought the line was lost but then you came along. We have been tracking your whereabouts and keeping an eye on you throughout your years at Hogwarts thanks to the late Albus Dumbledore, you and your fiance because of your special connection. When we caught word that you had gone to Malfoy Manor last night to try and obtain the Book, we immediately set out to try and help you." The woman explained.

"If you knew to help out last night then, pardon me, but where in the bloody hell were you all back in February when Voldemort had me kidnapped and held captive for three days? Where were you when my best friend came to rescue me and was murdered in front of my eyes because of it?" Hermione hollered at the group, her anger boiling up inside her.

The group all exchanged looks with one another. Most of them diverted their eyes from Hermione to the floor, unwilling to look at her. The woman addressed her again, this time her voice solemn and apologetic.

"We are very sorry for what happened to Mr. Potter. But you see, we are not allowed to interfere with destiny and for Harry, unfortunately it was what was supposed to happen. It happened for a reason although I cannot reveal that reason to you at this time because it's something you will have to discover for yourself." She answered guiltily.

Hermione was outraged at that. "Oh that's bull! Don't give me that "destiny" crap! He was only seventeen! He didn't deserve to die the way he did! He didn't deserve to die at ALL! And you tell me that you could have helped, that you knew what was happening and you did NOTHING to stop it or help in any way? Oh please forgive me if I don't understand but frankly I don't want to! You pop up out of the woodworks to supposedly save my arse but you know what? I don't want nor do I need your help! So thank you for saving my friends but from now on, stay out of my supposed 'destiny' and out of my life!" She screamed at the group, jumping to her feet and storming from the room.

Hermione couldn't believe that they would simply come into her life and tell her that not only have they been watching her and keeping tabs on her for practically her entire life but then to tell her that they practically LET her best friend be killed right in front of her because they were supposedly 'not allowed to help' was just too much for her to handle.

She dashed through the house looking for the others and finally came across them sitting in the game room (she guessed) and found the three boys sitting on the floor talking quietly. They looked up as they heard the door open to the room and their eyes widened at the sight of Hermione looking pissed and hurt.

"Whats going on 'Mione?" Ron asked, noticing her state.

"Lets go, we're leaving." Hermione answered matter-of-factly, walking over to the group and reaching down to pull Draco to his feet.

"Why Mia? What happened in there?" Draco asked, a worried look coming to his features as he got to his feet in front of her.

"We'll talk later." She responded absently, waving aside his question and turning to the door again. "We need to get out of here. Either you're coming with me or not, I really don't care but I'm leaving now." And with that she walked out the door and headed back towards entry way that she had passed earlier.

The boys looked at each other worriedly then quickly rushed out the room and after Hermione. They caught up with her easily as she was marching determinedly through the hallways. The group reached the entry way and was stopped by Bethany and the other woman who was talking to Hermione before.

"Hermione, you need to stay here. We can protect you and in your condition you need the extra protection." The older woman said pointedly, stepping in front of the door. Hermione whipped out her wand from her back pocket and pointed it at the woman.

"Get out of my way. I said what I had to say to you back in the sitting room during your 'lets control Hermione's life' meeting. Now move, or I wont hesitate to move you myself." Hermione said, stepping directly in front of the woman, her wand pointed right at her chest.

Suddenly the woman swiftly moved her hand and Hermione's wand flew from her hand and into Bethany's. This action caused Viktor, Ron, and Draco to all draw their wands and point them at the woman. Another movement of her hand and their wands were flown from their hands as well, leaving them all looking at each other completely dumbfounded.

"Alright, now that's over. How about if we try this again?" The woman said, a small smile still playing on her lips. "Perhaps like the adults we all are this time? And you three," she pointed to the boys. "are more than welcome to join seeing as it's obvious that you are all worried about Hermione's safety. Now, if you'll all follow me, it's almost time for lunch." And with that she left the entry hall and after a moment, the rest of them followed somewhat reluctantly.

Twenty minutes later, the four were gathered around a humongous table along with about fifteen other women (apparently all members of this group), staring in appreciation at the lavish feast before them. They quickly dug into the food and after a few moments of silent eating, the older woman (who they had learned was named Diane) cleared her throat and addressed Hermione and the others.

"I apologize for taking your wands either but please listen to us. We can help you, it's our job to watch you and protect you as the heiress to Osiris. I am truly sorry for not alerting you to our presence earlier but I was informed that we were to remain a complete secret unless absolutely necessary. Recently it has come to our attention that due to unforeseen circumstances," Dianne said, looking pointedly at Hermione and winking. "that this protection is needed more than ever before and we are willingly offering it to you. But be forewarned that whether you accept this or not, we will still be watching you and stepping in when needed. So what will it be? Will you accept our help?" Dianne finished and watched Hermione expectantly.

Hermione looked around the room, taking in everything that Dianne had told her. She glanced at Draco who was looking at her lovingly and with understanding.

"May I have a moment to speak with Draco on this? It does effect both of us after all." Hermione asked. Dianne nodded understandingly and the two stood and stepped from the large room.

"Mia, honey," Draco said gently, pulling her into his arms. "It's alright. I know that you are scared and worried and don't know what to think about all this. I promise that whatever you choose I'll back you fully."

Hermione laid her head on his chest. "Draco, what do you think I should do?" Draco stroked her hair lovingly and tilted her head to face his, kissing her lips passionately.

"Baby, I think you should take it. It will help us out so much. With the baby coming in a few months and all, we could really use the protection." Draco told her soothingly.

He held her close for a few moments, stroking her hair lovingly the way she loved. She rested her head on his chest as she pondered for a few moments.

"Alright, Draco. If you think it's the best thing right now, then alright. I'll tell them that I accept." Hermione said softly, looking up into his ice blue eyes and kissing his lips gently.

The two returned to the large dining room and sat back down in their seats. The whole room stopped talking and everyone turned to look at Hermione expectantly. It was so silent you could probably hear a pin drop.

"Dianne," Hermione addressed the older woman who nodded in response. "Draco and I have talked things over and we accept your protection. You are right," she added, looking at Draco lovingly, "we are going to need all the help we can get in a few months."

Dianne looked pleased. "Very well then. We'll prepare a wing of the house for you and even set up a nursery for the upcoming addition after lunch. The other details can wait till later. For now, lets just enjoy our meal!"

For the first time in the last month, Hermione allowed herself to relax. She embraced her life and the fact that she was carrying hers and Draco's child. She hadn't been this happy in a very long time it seemed.


	13. The Calm Before the Storm

**A/N: Well well kiddies hehe! It appears I'm back temporarily for a few weeks. Good news though, I've officially finished Daughters of Osiris and since you all have been so wonderful by sticking around during my 'unfortunate disappearance' hehe, I decided to simply post all four of the final chapters and will also be posting the prologue for part 3 entitled "Long Road Home". I'm not entirely happy with the way this part of the series has come out but hopefully you all will still enjoy it!**

**So without further adu, I give you the final chapters of the Destiny Series, Part 2--Daughters of Osiris!

* * *

_Chapter 12: The Calm Before the Storm_**

The next couple of months drifted by easily and somewhat more quickly than Hermione had hoped for. Draco and Hermione had moved many of their possessions into the wing that the women had made up for them in Bethany's mansion (**_A/N: I forgot to mention that the Potter fortune did not only go to Harry--it was split to Bethany as well and now with Harry gone, Bethany has everything hence why she could afford a mansion at only 22 lol)_**. The woman of the D.O. (Daughters of Osiris) had been gracious and welcoming to the couple just as if they were family. Occasionally it did bother Hermione however because many of the members had a tendency to try and wait on them hand and foot like servants but Hermione was always quick to put a stop to it.

It was now approaching December and Hermione was trying to excite herself with the holiday season. She was now almost five months pregnant and was beginning to show a little bulge in her belly. Draco was loving every moment of his fiancé's pregnancy and was almost unbearable to Hermione with his constant touching and his incessant need to do everything for her. Hermione was also beginning to get a sense of cabin fever since she was rarely out of the mansion and when she was, she was always accompanied by Draco as well as one or two of the D.O. members. True, she had agreed to all this but in her mind all this over-protectiveness was starting to become a bit over extreme, especially since the past couple months had been almost completely uneventful.

Hermione was spending most of her days holed up in the mansion's extensive library which was twice the size of her own at home and almost as large as the one at Hogwarts but contained many more volumes of certain topics that were more needed for the cause. There was an entire section devoted to Egypt and the Egyptian legends and myths. Hermione had started to pour through each and every single book in that entire section and, after two full months, she was still only barely half way through it. So far, however, she hadn't discovered very much that she didn't already know considering she had been studying Egyptian history for the past five years. It didn't matter to Hermione though, she was excited to read each book anyway. Draco thought that she was either really bored or just plain insane to re-read all the information that she pretty much already knew but oh well, at least she seemed happy and that's all he wanted.

They had left the mansion a few times, either to go out for a day of shopping at Diagon Alley or to attend regular Order meetings or even once when Hermione dragged Draco to a muggle thing called a movie, but mostly the couple spent their days in the mansion. Draco was becoming more excited about his upcoming parenthood and wedding (which they had finally settled on having the next summer after the baby was born), especially now that Hermione's pregnancy was beginning to show. He would watch her sift through book after book in the mansion's library and was happy to see the smile on her face that had not been there for some time.

It was one cold day in November that Hermione found something during her research that caused her to burst into Bethany's study, an ecstatic look on her face.

"Bethany!" Hermione hollered, bursting into the room, causing Bethany to jerk up from her paperwork at her desk, alarmed at the sudden interruption.

After Bethany had calmed her heart rate again, she looked curiously at her brother's best friend. "Gods, Hermione. You scared the bloody hell out of me! What's so important?"

Hermione shoved an open book onto the desk in front of Bethany. "Look! Right there." She said, pointing to a paragraph on the open page. "It says that there's another book out there, just as powerful as the Book of the Dead. Only it's said to be able to do just the opposite! It says here that this book contains an incantation that when recited by someone like me, it can strip the immortality and even the full life-force from a living being! This could be it, Bethany!"

Bethany read over the paragraph that Hermione was pointing to. Sure enough, there seemed to be another book of legend in Egypt that was simply called The Book of the Living. It said that if someone were to succeed in using the Book of the Dead to gain 'immortality', the said incantation could strip that immortality from said individual causing them to become completely mortal once again. Bethany did notice however that it appeared to have one simple problem.

"This is great Hermione! But did you happen to notice what it says here at the end?" She pointed it out to Hermione who looked at the passage and her face fell at the information. Apparently, the book had not been seen for nearly 500 years and no one had anything but speculation on the book's possible whereabouts. Hermione tried not to let that discourage her though because if this was a way to finally defeat Voldemort once and for all then she would try her hardest to get to it. She decided that she would try to recruit the Order as well as the Daughters' to help her on her newly decided mission. She left Bethany's study and immediately rushed towards hers and Draco's wing of the house looking for her fiancé.

"Draco!" She hollered when she reached the wing, not wanting to take the effort to actually look through the rooms for him. She smiled brightly when she saw him come out of their daughter's nursery (he had been adding new décor to it almost everyday for the past week). He rushed over to her and twirled her around, giving her a sweet and loving kiss.

"Guess what, Draco? We're going to Egypt!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

"Huh? What do you mean? Why are we going to Egypt?" Draco asked curiously, somewhat confused.

"I mean just that. We're, as in you an me, are going to Egypt. I mean you don't have to go if you don't want to but I'm going regardless of what anyone says." Hermione answered, her smile never faltering, even though Draco looked at her sternly.

"Mia, you know you aren't supposed to go anywhere unaccompanied. Why do you want to go to Egypt so badly? I mean I know you've always wanted to but why right now?" Draco said.

"Because I found something during my research and I'm going to investigate it. It could hold the key to ending this bloody mess with Voldemort and I'm going to do anything in my power to find it. So are you coming with me or not?" Hermione asked, pulling away from him and heading towards their bedroom not waiting for his answer.

"Oh come on Mia! Cant you just put all this 'gotta save the world' crap on hold for a few months? At least until our daughter is born!" Draco exclaimed catching up with her as she entered their room.

"No Draco I cant. We've been through this! I told you that I would do anything I could and this is something that I know I need to do." She replied matter-of-factly.

"Dammit Hermione! Stop being so bloody stubborn!" Draco yelled at her out of frustration. He paused for a moment.

"You know, you're as bad as Harry bloody Potter and you know what? You keep this up and you're gonna end up just like him!" He hollered at her. She stopped dead in her tracks and he immediately regretted what he said. That was the second time that he had used her best friend's fate during an argument and he wasn't sure how Hermione would react.

"Hermione...Mia...honey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that." Draco said quickly, hoping to cover his arse before Hermione could blow up at him. "It's just that things have been going so well lately that it just surprised me that you'd want to do this now."

Hermione turned on her heel and faced him, her honey eyes blazing with fire. "You know something Draco? You're absolutely right, I am as bad as Harry. I've accepted my life just as he did and, just like him, I knew my place and what I was supposed to do and am not afraid to do what needs to be done. So thank you, I consider that a compliment." She said, her voice low and steady. "But so help me gods, if you ever bring Harry up in one of our arguments again, it will be the last thing you ever, and I mean, ever say to me. You got that?"

Draco just nodded solemnly. "I really am sorry Mia, it just came out. But seriously, I really am begging you to please just wait till after the baby's born. I know I cant stop you from doing it but that's all I ask. Please, if you're gonna risk your own life I cant do anything about it but please don't risk our daughter's again as well."

Draco stared down at her and took her small hands in his. As he stared deeply into her eyes, his ice blue ones burning deep into her soul, Hermione felt her knees grow weak like they used to when they first got together and she knew she could never stay mad at him.

"Alright, alright. But there's only about four more months till then and then it begins, got it? Once she's born, no more holding me back or trying to persuade me with guilt trips, okay?" Hermione said to him, not breaking their gaze once.

Draco smiled and leaned down towards her, so close she could feel his warm breath on her face, causing Hermione to smile as well. He looked into her eyes again, his stare filled with lust and love and she knew what was on his mind because it was the same thing on hers as well. The hadn't been together like that in quite awhile, since they learned they were going to have a baby really. It was a shame, pitiful almost, especially considering before that they had made love at least three times a week if not more….guess it's no wonder the couple got pregnant!

Draco's lips suddenly crashed into hers, breaking her reverie and sending her into a swirling bliss almost as strong as the first time they'd kissed. The love was still there, the lust, the passion, the understanding…it was all present and accounted for. Their kiss deepened as she granted his tongue entrance into her mouth and they were suddenly battling for dominance, the passions igniting and swallowing them both whole.

Hermione took over control for a moment and started to lead Draco back towards the bed in their room, passionately stripping his clothes off of him hungrily while they moved with Draco doing the same to Hermione. Draco's strong hands moved themselves expertly over Hermione's soft arms and back. He suddenly switched their position and pushed Hermione lightly back onto the bed, climbing gently over her and smothering her with passionate kisses.

Draco's hands swept over her soft skin gently and lovingly pausing at her tiny bulge in her abdomenom, completely entranced by the fact that there was a tiny life growing in there at that very moment--a life that was half his and half his beautiful mate's.

Their subtle caresses became quicker and hungrier as they stripped the remaining clothing from each other's bodies and clung to each other's naked forms as if their lives depended on it. The kisses became feverish as Draco plunged himself deep inside her and Hermione screamed out in pleasure at uniting with her love again. They met each other in the throws of ecstasy over and over that night in each other's arms, finally collapsing in the wee hours of the morning, completely exhausted and pleasantly numb.

"I love you Mia.." Draco murmured into her hair as the two cuddled tightly at the end of their escapade.

"I love you too Draco, don't you ever forget that." Hermione replied and allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep, snuggling into his warm embrace, his hand resting protectively and lovingly over her swelled stomach.

* * *

**A/N: well i hope you all liked that little love scene...i know it wasnt as elaborate or drawn out as the one from part one but i heard that there were some who were begging for more sex (hehe) so there you go!**


	14. Happy Holidays

_**Chapter 13: Happy Holidays **_

The following few weeks went by for Draco and Hermione just like they used to when the couple first got together. They were hardly ever separated and when they were it was usually either doing final minute preparations for Christmas Dinner or the New Years party that the D.O was putting on for everyone or checking to make sure certain Christmas gifts were getting done.

Bethany and Dianne took Hermione out the week before Christmas to pick up a few things for Christmas, including a couple new dresses for each of them as well as a few last minute gifts and, much to Hermione's constant arguments, new baby things for the upcoming newborn. The women of the D.O were practically spoiling her child before it was even born, buying and making everything the little one could ever want or need.

As Hermione stood on a stool in Madame Malkin's robe shop in Diagon Alley, Bethany snuck out and rushed out into muggle London to get a gift for Hermione that she hoped would go over very well. She walked briskly to the nearby jewelry store and, glancing around like she were a spy looking for someone watching her, swept into the shop.

"Yes, miss? May I help you with anything today?" The pleasant elderly woman behind the counter addressed Bethany as she walked into the store.

"Yes, ma'am. Actually I'm here to pick up something I've had made. Under the name Potter please." Bethany replied.

The woman disappeared into the back room and returned only a moment later carry a blue velvet tray on which was placed a very beautiful and intricately detailed gold ring. The woman placed it on the counter for Bethany to examine and after careful examination to ensure that every detail was in place, Bethany smiled and nodded at the woman letting her know that it was perfect. The woman promptly packaged and bagged the delicate piece and handed over to Bethany who thanked her profusely and left the store, having paid for the ring many months prior when she initially put in the order.

Bethany rushed back to Diagon Alley and met up with Hermione and Dianne just as the women were coming out of the robe shop. At the same moment Bethany came up to them, another person joined them as well.

" Hermione Granger?" The stranger asked, putting all three women on alert and each grabbed their wands, keeping them tightly in case they were needed.

"I am, and you are?" Hermione asked bravely, stepping forward from the other two slightly.

The stranger didn't reply but simply handed Hermione a small plainly wrapped package and walked off, not saying another word to the confused looking women watching after him. Hermione looked at the small package in her hands and, glancing at Bethany and Dianne, put the box delicately in her purse to open later at the mansion where it was probably safer than opening it right here in the middle of busy Diagon Alley.

The three women tried to shrug off the encounter and began to make their way back to the apparation point at the end of the Alley. Reaching it, they joined hands and apparated back to Bethany's mansion, leaving their packages by the front door. Hermione immediately rushed up the stairs to their wing and through the study door, having a feeling that's where Draco was…and she was right. There he was, sitting idly at his desk, staring off into space, twirling an expensive phoenix feather quill in his hand. Hermione snuck up behind him and clamped her hands over his eyes, but not getting the surprised reaction from him that she was hoping for.

"You're home Mia." Draco said simply, pulling her hands from his eyes gently and turning around to face her, smiling at her attempt.

"Oh you suck, Draco! Cant you just turn off your stupid radar for once?" Hermione asked exasperatedly, faking her anger and trying without success to scowl which simply caused draco to laugh at her.

"Nope, sorry." He answered simply, smiling at her attempt to feign anger. Draco pulled Hermione into his lap and kissed her deeply. "I missed you though."

Hermione smiled back at this. "I was only gone for a couple hours! But I'm glad you did anyway coz I missed you too."

"So…." Draco said, a look of mischief on his handsome features. "What did you get me?" He said smiling an innocent smile.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, punching him playfully on the arm and jumped off his lap.

"Ouch, woman!" He answered, trying to feign injury but failing miserably since his smile gave himself away.

Their laughter continued almost nonstop until Christmas morning when they were awakened bright and early by Bethany who let them know that breakfast was being served and then they were gathering in the living room for presents and stuff. Hermione cuddled closer to Draco after Bethany left the room and she felt his hot breath on her neck.

"Happy Christmas, mi amour." Draco whispered to Hermione, reaching back under his pillow and pulling out a long black box wrapped in silver and crimson and handed it to her.

Hermione turned herself and sat up next to him, her lips forming in a sensual smile as she reached slowly into her bedside table drawer and pulled back with a small box of her own, wrapped in hunter green and gold and handed it to him.

Like a little boy at Christmas, Draco jumped up to a sitting position and began stripping the paper off of the box, throwing it to the side of the bed to reveal a simple black ring box. Looking back at Hermione, who smiled at him lovingly, he opened the box and a single tear fell from the corner of his eye when he saw what was in it.

There, sitting amongst the black green velvet lining, sat a magnificent platinum serpent band encasing around a large 2-ct. mystical black diamond encrusted with the Malfoy family crest and surrounded by .5 ct emeralds….exactly like the one his father used to wear. He turned to look again at Hermione, this time with confusion and question in his blue eyes but Hermione simply nodded and he took the ring from the box, noticing an inscription inside of it---

_Draco Lucius Malfoy and Hermione Jane Malfoy_

It was exactly like the one his father had worn except that the inscription on his father's read 'Lucius Leviticus Malfoy and Narcissa Helvetica Malfoy'. This was the Malfoy marriage ring passed down from generation to generation of Malfoy males. The inscription changed with each generation to read the names of the male and their life partner. Normally, however, this ring was not presented until the couple's wedding day by the Malfoy elder but since Lucius was not around, though still alive somehow, Hermione had somehow obtained it from Narcissa, who, surprisingly enough, took to Hermione as if she were her own daughter.

This touched Draco to the bone because having this meant that he and Hermione now had the Malfoy blessing, something not attained easily and never before given to a muggleborn.

"How?" Was all Draco could muster to come out of his shocked mouth as he just stared disbelievingly at the ring in his hand.

Hermione smiled. "Well apparently your mother seems to like me. She gave it to me to give to you."

Draco practically tackled her on the bed, kissing her passionately.

"Thank you so much baby. This means so much, you just have no clue." Draco said.

"I think I have some idea how much." Hermione said, smiling again as Draco slid the ring onto his left hand then turned to her.

"Okay, Mia. Your turn." Draco said pointing to the present still laying on Hermione's bulging belly. She sat herself up again and carefully, almost delicately, peeled the wrapping from the box. Opening the box, Hermione gasped slightly. Inside the box was delicate gold chain, with a single charm hanging from it….a golden snitch. Lined up against the edge of the box were four more charms--a black onyx number 12, a platinum Triquentra, a silver serpent with sparkling emerald eyes and a gold lion head with glittering ruby eyes. Draco leaned forward and took the chain from the box, along with the other charms and went forth, connecting each charm to the bracelet while telling Hermione about the gift.

"This charm bracelet symbolizes our courtship, Mia. The serpent for me and the lion for you, of course. The Triquentra representing the connection that lies between our souls. The number 12 is for Grimmauld Place, the place we first kissed, sparking our love for one another. And the snitch, well that's for Harry because without Harry Potter, we probably would never have gotten as far as we have." Draco told her, connecting the bracelet to Hermione's outstretched wrist and looking up into her honey brown eyes, seeing them glistening with tears, as a soft smile played on her tender lips.

The happy couple kissed lovingly and it almost escalated into a recount of the previous night's events but before they could start, another knock came at the door again from Bethany signaling that everyone was waiting for them downstairs for breakfast. They glanced at each other and laughed then got up and threw on a couple of robes (expensive silk robes mind you, only the best for a Malfoy after all) and headed downstairs, Hermione holding onto Draco's arm down the stairs to keep herself from falling accidentally.

After a long and loud breakfast, the entire group (well at least the fifteen of them that were staying in the mansion over the holidays) receded into the living room where Bethany, Hermione and a couple of the other girls had set up and decorated a 'normal' Christmas-y type setting complete with a large decorated tree with lots of candles and winter decorations around the room. Hermione and Draco were ushered over onto one of the comfy loveseats while everyone else sat around on the other chairs, sofas and even the floor. Two of the girls, red headed twins about sixteen years old named Jessica and Jasmine Davies (Hermione had learned that they were related to former Hogwarts student Roger Davies) began passing around the gifts till everyone seemed to have their own pile of presents (most of which were at least 15-25 packages a piece), Hermione with what appeared to be the largest pile.

They all talked, laughed, gossiped and joked for the next couple hours till everyone had finally finished unwrapping all their presents. Hermione had given Bethany Harry's old Triwizard jersey (one of them anyway since Hermione still owned the other, the one that still had a small stain of Cedric's blood on it from the third task) as well as his magical photo album, the same one Hagrid had given to him after his first year containing pictures of their parents as well as a few of him, Ron, and Hermione. Bethany had cried joyfully at her gifts, telling Hermione that they were some of the best things anyone could've ever given her. Bethany had even pulled Hermione aside after opening her gifts from the girl to give Hermione her own gift, the one she had picked up while they were in Diagon Alley a short while ago….it was an intricately detailed, delicate gold ring that contained three stones--a Ruby (July's birthstone for Harry), an Aquamarine (March--for Ron) and a blue Sapphire (September--Hermione)-- placed strategically on each point of a Wiccan Triquentra (just like the one on the chain from Dumbledore and on the bracelet from Draco). Bethany told her that it represented the three of them, the 'Golden Trio' as they had been dubbed, and their cumulative power and friendship. Hermione wept happily at the gift, hugging Harry's sister for such a thoughtful present.

After awhile, Hermione grew tired from all the activities of the morning and draco helped her upstairs to rest. When she got there, she remembered the package that had been handed to her in Diagon Alley and retrieved it from her cloak pocket. Settling on the bed with Draco at her feet, rubbing them tenderly, she opened the package carefully, not really knowing what to expect but something told her that it was safe.

She released the small box from it's plain wrappings and saw that it was a very nice, very shiny gold box with her name scrawled intricately on it's top in gold calligraphy. Looking at Draco, wondering if it was some sort of surprise from him but getting a look of sheer confusion and curiosity back, she slowly lifted the lid to reveal a note placed atop of a sheer layer of gold chiffon amidst the crimson satin lining.

_Miss Granger_

_I hope that this gift will come in handy during your upcoming battles. You know the responsibilities that come with it, both the dangers and the rules if used inappropriately. If you should ever need a little more 'time' you know what to do. Good luck with everything, you truly are the best student I've ever had._

_Sincerely_

_Professor Minerva McGonagall and_

_Professor Albus Dumbledore_

Hermione stared at the small piece of parchment in amazement and curiosity. Setting it down beside her, she gently moved the chiffon from her way and gasped at what she saw inside the crimson lining----a Time Turner, engraved with the words '_Property of Hermione Granger_'.


	15. An Early Arrival

_**Chapter 14: An Early Arrival**_

The weeks passed turning into months and still little word from Voldemort and his Death Eaters except for the occasional disappearance or death but nothing to even suggest that they were still trying to get to Hermione. As the months passed, it wasn't long before Hermione's appearance had definitely grown and she was excited and anxious to have the baby. She felt like a house, trying desperately to move around the mansion as she used to but found regrettably that she no longer could. Bethany and Dianne had contacted a private healer to come and care for her since it appeared that she may be experiencing some complications due to the magical energies that flowed through her veins and undoubtedly were flowing through her daughter's veins as well.

She was now passing into her seventh month and already feeling as if she was more than ready to have this whole ordeal over with. She became distant and moody, constantly lashing out at everyone around her and then immediately breaking into tears and begging for forgiveness for her rudeness. Draco started to become just as anxious and nervous as Hermione's womb continued to grow, showing that it was only a matter of time before their new addition was finally introduced to the frightening world.

The evening of February 14th Hermione awoke from an afternoon nap (she found herself tired all the time lately) to beautiful bouquets of blood red, sparkling white, and even glittering enchanted silver roses placed strategically around their bedroom. She turned over on her other side **_(A/N: for those who don't know, once you reach your third trimester--6months--it's advised to refrain from sleeping on your back because it can cut off circulation to your baby and you cant sleep on your stomach, well that's pretty obvious why lol!)_** and her eyes shot open when she realized that Draco wasn't in bed with her. She shot up to a sitting position (well as fast as she could in her condition) but then smiled when she saw that in place of her love was a black satin box with a letter on Draco's pillow. Situating herself in a cross-legged position, she opened up the letter, placing the box in her lap.

_My Dearest Love_

_Happy Valentine's Day. Today will be a special day. If you open your wardrobe you will find a special item…please put it on along with the present enclosed in the box and meet me out in the garden at 7pm._

Hermione smiled happily and pushed herself from the bed, looking at the clock on her bedside table that read 6:10pm meaning that she had a little under an hour to get ready. Moving to her wardrobe as swiftly as possible, she tore open the doors and gasped at the flowing crimson red silk dress that was hanging inside the wardrobe door. She tossed the hanger with the dress onto the bed, stripped off her bedclothes and hastily ran to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready.

Twenty minutes later, she stepped from the shower and wrapped a warm terry-cloth robe around her bulging figure and picked up her wand from the bathroom vanity and de-fogged the room. Sitting at her vanity she used another spell to quickly dry her sopping curls and applied another charm to de-frizz and soften her long locks. After that she pulled her long hair off her shoulders and pinned it into a half French twist, her curls cascading from the top of the twist almost down to her shoulders, leaving a few loose tendrils framing her glowing face. After applying a subtle amount of color to her eyes, framing them with a smoky grey liner and lush mascara, she finished off by charming her lips a deep blood red to match her dress (charming instead of using lipstick like she usually did because she didn't want it to smudge off tonight).

Rushing back into the bedroom, she tossed her robe onto the floor and, searching through her wardrobe drawers, she found a sexy pair of black and red lacey panties from before she was pregnant and enchanted them to fit her now bulging hips. Opting for bra-less due to the delicate spaghetti straps of the dress, she slipped it over her bulging belly easily and, using her wand since she couldn't reach the zipper, zipped up the back of the dress and gasped as the dress magically fitted itself to her body, accentuating her beautiful pregnant curves that Draco loved dearly (oh yes, Draco loved the way pregnancy looked on Hermione and had already been smacked playfully a few times when he's brought up the subject of having more). Sliding her feet into magical black heels (which were enchanted to feel like the person was wearing the most comfortable pair of slippers made), she made her way to her bedside table where her jewelry box was as well as the box that was left with the note. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she opened up the box and gasped at the beautiful silver chain that was sitting inside it. Dangling on the end of the chain was a very rare blood stone in the shape of a teardrop. There were also a pair of dangling teardrop blood stone and diamond earrings that Hermione knew must have cost draco an absolute fortune but seeing as they'd been together for over a year now, she had somewhat become accustomed to the lavishly expensive gifts that draco insisted on showering Hermione with.

Placing the jewels delicately on her neck and ears, she took a final look in her wall mirror and, noticing that it was already 7: 05, she shrunk her wand and hastily shoved it in a black handbag and walked hastily from the room.

Making her way out to the garden behind the mansion, she was forced to stop in the middle of the downstairs hallway when a sudden pain shot through her abdomen. Clutching her stomach with one hand and her other hand on the wall for support, she gasped in pain that suddenly ended almost as quickly as it began. Convincing herself that it was just one of the pre-contraction things that the Healer had warned her about earlier in the month, she straightened up again and composed herself, continuing out to the garden.

When she walked through the back door and through the small gate that lead to the massive garden, she smiled when she caught site of Draco sitting on the edge of the elaborate angel fountain that sat in the center. Making her way towards him, she stepped on a loose twig accidentally and Draco shot around to see who was there and smiled brightly when he saw his wife-to-be smiling back at him. He walked over to where she was standing and handed her a single blood red rose and kissed her cheek lovingly.

"You look absolutely amazing, Mia." Draco said softly, taking her hand in his and kissing it softly causing Hermione to blush lightly.

"So where are we going Draco?" Hermione asked timidly but was given a look of mystery like someone up to something from her husband-to-be.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." He answered slyly giving her an adorable wink.

Draco took her hand and led her through the garden which was magically lit by fairy lights that twinkled in the moonlight. Rounding a small bend in the garden, Hermione gasped at the lovely silver painted gazebo that was on the other side of the garden. It had been decorated with twisting vines of ivy and red roses. The top of the gazebo was lit by tons of twinkling fairy lights that made it a very magical sight. In the center of the gazebo was an elaborate table for two made of silver wrought iron with the table draped in shimmery cloths of silver and crimson and laid out on the table top were two settings of the finest silver and red china complete with matching silver goblets that were decorated with intricately detailed crimson roses that twisted themselves around the goblets. In the very center was a small but beautiful candelabra that was made of what else but silver iron and crimson rose details.

Draco led his fiancé to one of the chairs and held it out for her as she sat down carefully and he pushed her in then went to the other side and sat himself. He reached across the table and took her hand in his and leaned down to kiss it again softly causing Hermione to blush again. The blush however was short lived as she felt another sharp pang shoot through her abdomen again causing her to cry out and double over, clutching her stomach. Draco launched himself from his chair and came over to her side, kneeling down and holding her free hand (the one that wasn't grasping the table so hard her knuckles turned white).

"Mia, sweetheart! What's wrong?" Draco asked worriedly.

"The…baby…some…things…wrong…" Hermione managed to get out between gasps of breath as the pain continued to shoot through her.

Draco didn't need to be told twice. He quickly swept her into his arms (which wasn't as easy as it used to be mind you since Hermione had put on almost25 pounds with the pregnancy---which was perfectly normal mind you) and rushed to the mansion as fast as he could carrying his fiancé in his arms. As he entered through the back door with her still in his arms he began hollering for anyone that was nearby to come help her. Almost immediately, Bethany, Dianne, and a couple others rushed into the hallway to see what was happening. They each took one glance at Hermione resting in Draco's arms, a look of pain and exhaustion on her pale features, and immediately launched into ready mode. Dianne ordered one of the girls to immediately floo Hermione's private healer and tell her to get her ASAP and directed Bethany and Draco to bring Hermione into one of the nearby rooms. Dianne quickly transfigured the room (which was actually a spare study) into a full maternity room and ordered Draco to lay Hermione on the bed. Draco quickly obliged and watched as Dianne began barking orders at Bethany and quickly started running Hermione over with her wand running tests to see what was causing her condition. Somewhere in the middle of all this she ordered Draco out into the hallway telling him that he was in their way.

A few screams from Hermione and several minutes later, Dianne joined Draco in the hallway where he was impatiently pacing back and forth wringing his hands nervously.

"Draco, dear, stop pacing before you run a hole into the floor." Dianne said sternly, causing draco to stop and turn to face her, a look of fear and confusion in his blue eyes.

"What's wrong with her Dianne? Is she alright?" Draco asked, his voice choking as he tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"She's in labor Draco." Dianne said matter-of-factly.

Draco looked at her confusedly. "How? I mean she's not due for another two months!"

"That's true but just as the Healer warned her, with the overabundance of magical energies coursing through her and the baby it has thrown her into premature labor. We've tried to slow it down and even stop it but I'm sorry to say nothing worked…she's having this baby now, tonight. If you want, you can go ahead and go in the room with her. I'm sure she really needs you right now." Dianne told him and hurried off to greet the Healer that had just arrived in the front entry hall and Draco rushed into the room.

Hermione was laying pale and still on the bed now, covered in a thin layer of sweat. Her dress was gone, replaced by a normal hospital type gown. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping. Apparently they'd given her a potion to help relieve the pain and help her rest for awhile. Draco pushed a few locks of hair from her face and kissed her forehead causing Hermione to stir and open her eyes sleepily.

"Draco, I'm sorry." she whispered, looking up at him groggily.

"Baby, for what? You have nothing to be sorry about." Draco replied lovingly.

"I ruined your beautiful plans tonight." She smiled weakly and Draco returned the smile.

"It's alright love, you'll just have to make it up to me after you get well again." He replied, a twinkle in his eyes and leaned over to kiss her gently just as the Healer burst through the door to the room and rushed over to Hermione's bedside.

"Alright Hermione, it appears that this child is coming tonight whether you want her to or not. Be prepared though, this is very early for a baby to be born so we will all to take extra cautions to insure that she is alright. I must warn you both however, that there is a chance, not a large chance mind you but a chance nonetheless that this child may not survive due to the earliness of the delivery. But I do promise you that we will do anything and everything in our power to make sure your daughter comes through this healthy and happy." Healer Kelson told the couple who looked at her with complete fear in their eyes at what she told them.

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A loud piercing scream penetrated the walls of the Monroe Mansion causing all the occupants to look at each other concernedly.

"Almost there, Hermione. One more push!" The healer told her. Another scream rang out and this time it was followed by a loud shrill cry.

Hermione collapsed back onto the bed that had been set up in the study for her. The healer immediately rushed the baby away to Bethany and Dianne who were experienced healers as well and the three of them began to get to work on the baby, insuring that everything was as it was supposed to be and that there were no complications and whatnot.

Draco kissed her sweaty forehead lovingly. Hermione was completely and utterly exhausted after the seven hour ordeal she had just endured--without any pain potions or labor aids from the healers aside from those that they had given her when she was first brought into the room to make her more comfortable while they examined her.

A few tedious moments later, Healer Kelson brought over a bundle tightly wrapped in a soft pink chemise blanket and placed the bundle in Hermione's tired arms. Hermione smiled, tears springing to her eyes as she looked lovingly down upon her daughter in her arms. She was the tiniest little baby Hermione had ever seen and also the most beautiful. She had delicate dark blonde curls placed on her pale pink head and her eyes were the palest blue Hermione had ever seen but the Healer (damn woman lol!) told her that the eyes may or may not change during the next few months.

Hermione looked up at her fiancé who was also allowing a few stray tears to escape his eyes as he looked down on his love and his new daughter. Draco reached down and gently rubbed his hand over his daughter's curls and placed a soft kiss on top of her head.

"She's beautiful, Mia, just like her mother." Draco said softly, kissing Hermione on the forehead as well.

Later that day (it was now February 15th), Draco and Hermione were in their daughter's nursery, staring lovingly down at the beautiful baby girl who was now sleeping peacefully in her pale pink satin crib. They both in turn kissed the sleeping newborn on her forehead and walked silently from the room, stopping momentarily to ensure that the magical baby monitor was activated. Just before exiting the room, Hermione stopped in the doorway and turned to look at her sleeping daughter once more, a soft smile playing on her lips.

"Welcome to the world, Alexis Jade Malfoy. You're gonna be in for one hell of a wonderful ride." And with that, Hermione turned and closed the door softly.

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**_A/N: Well...Alexis Jade Malfoy...hope you all like it! _**


	16. And So It Begins

_**Chapter 15: And So It Begins…**_

True to Hermione's word to Draco, she had not even attempted to do any research or anything in the way of working towards defeating Voldemort the rest of the time that she'd been pregnant. But now, Alexis was two months old and Hermione had been officially cleared by her Healer to go back to her normal everyday activities and that's exactly what Hermione did, regardless of Draco's numerous arguments.

"Mia, come on! You cannot be serious about this!" Draco said to her exasperatedly one night while the couple were in the mansion's library.

"I am completely serious Draco." Hermione responded, not looking up from her research and notes. "We already talked about this a few months ago. I promised you that I would not do anything until after Alex was born and I kept my word but now I need to get things done."

"But this is crazy, Mia! You do realize that even if you do happen to find it, going back into that place is practically suicide!" Draco tried again to get some sense through to her stubborn mind.

Hermione finally closed her books and rolled up her notes, standing and facing Draco for the first time in the past hour.

"Look, this is something that I need to do. It's not up for debate so either you're going to support me or I leave with you being pissed at me. Either way, I'm going." She walked over to him completely composed and kissed him lovingly on the cheek.

"You know I love you and right now I just need you to support me." She said, turning and walking purposefully from the library.

After yet another screaming match from Draco and kissing her infant daughter lovingly on the forehead, Hermione left the mansion with Bethany in tow and headed to Grimmauld Place for an impromptu Order meeting. As the two young women entered into the dining room, they found that the other members were already awaiting their arrival. Sitting down at the head of the table opposite Remus Lupin, Bethany at her side, Hermione unrolled her parchment containing her notes and began the meeting.

"Okay as you all know, I've been studying and researching another Egyptian book supposedly believed to be the exact opposite as the one that Voldemort currently contains in his possession. After many months of research and locator spells I think that I may have finally narrowed down the possible location of the Book of the Living." Hermione began, looking determined and confident in her research.

Two long hours later the Order began putting together the plans for the group of members that would be accompanying Hermione to Egypt the following day to look for this supposed book of legend. After careful consideration, Remus and Hermione together decided that a small but powerful group would be their best bet as to not draw too much attention to themselves in the accidental event that Voldemort was still keeping watch on Hermione's actions and followed the group to Egypt.

After finishing up the planning for the night, the Order members dispersed to gather their needs for the following day's mission, some returning home to tell their loved ones goodbye and others simply shopping for any extra necessities they might require. As for Hermione, she and Bethany returned to the mansion in order for Hermione to talk to Draco about the mission for the next day.

Unfortunately for Hermione, when she arrived at the mansion she was immediately bombarded with bad news.

"Hermione!" Jasmine Davies came running into the entry hall as soon as Hermione and Bethany walked through the door. "He left and he took Alexis with him!"

Hermione looked at the young girl as if she had sprouted three heads and immediately tore up the stairs to their wing of the mansion, tearing through each room looking for any sign of her fiancé and newborn baby girl. She burst through the nursery door and found herself staring at an empty room. Her eyes widening in disbelief, she burst through the connecting door into their master bedroom and found that it too had been almost completely cleaned out of all their possessions--well at least anything that belonged to Alex or Draco. Hermione's anger overwhelmed her and she screamed out her anguish, causing the walls to vibrate. Looking determinedly around the room her honey eyes came to a stop on a single piece of parchment folded on the desk with her name in Draco's familiar scrawl. Striding purposefully over to the desk and tearing the letter off of it, she opened the note and immediately felt overcome with every emotion known to man.

_My Dearest Mia_

_Things have gone far enough. I have realized over time and have even come to accept your connection to the situation with Voldemort but I simply cannot sit idly by any longer and watch you put yourself in danger without any regard to my feelings or our daughter. It appears to me that over time you have let this so called issue with Voldemort overwhelm your entire life. It's as if nothing matters to you anymore except for getting revenge with Voldemort for what happened to you and Harry._

_I have taken Alexis and have gone into hiding until whenever the time comes that it is once again safe for us to be in the open. I hope that you will eventually realize what you have with us and return to your family where you belong. I love you Mia and will always love you with every fiber of my being but it is no longer safe for our child to be around you while you are on this mission of yours to destroy Voldemort._

_I will contact you soon to let you know that we are safe and well. I miss you Mia, I just wanted you to know that._

_My love forever, _

_Draco_

Hermione tore up the letter into miniscule pieces and tossed them into the nearby fireplace. She couldn't believe he would do such a thing.

_How dare he take my daughter! Who in the bloody hell does he think he is!_ She thought angrily to himself as she paced their bedroom_. When I find them, Draco is going to wish he'd never ever known who Hermione Granger is._

She set her resolve and, grabbing her warm shadow cloak that Draco had given her when she had been rescued from Malfoy Manor the year before, strode from the mansion, Bethany following closely on her heels and apparated back to Grimmauld Place.

First thing in the morning, Remus, Ron, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody and Jeremy Donavon (as well as Hermione and Bethany) congregated around the dining room table of Headquarters to go over the last minute preparations for the mission to Egypt. They were going to be traveling together by Portkey to the City of the Dead where Hermione had narrowed down the possible locations of the legendary book. Apparently the city was legend as well seeing as no one had ever found it and those who had, had either died in the desert or were considered insane.

After everyone was clear on their plans, the group congregated in the backyard and circled around a medium sized amulet that had been transformed into a portkey just for this mission.

"Remember everyone," Hermione said just before they left. "Keep together at all times. If anyone finds anything suspicious or that you think might be the book, send up the signal but do NOT try to touch it yourselves. You all know the legend and the rules around it and I really don't want to see anyone else get hurt because of this stupid crap that Voldemort had built for us. Good luck everyone."

They all placed their fingers on the amulet and Remus counted down---3.…2.…1. Immediately Hermione felt a pull behind her navel and was sent spiraling through the air, crashing into the others around her. She felt the others let go and disappear one by one till finally she was alone. She tried to let go herself but found herself unable to release the portkey. All of a sudden, she felt herself falling rapidly as if dropped from an excruciatingly far height.

When she hit the ground, the force knocked her on her back and she cracked her head against something hard, knocking her unconscious. The last thing she heard before being overcome in darkness was an evil far away cackle.

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Back in London, hidden in Hogwarts by an understanding Professor McGonagall, Draco watched as his daughter slept peacefully in a crib beside a small twin sized bed down in the unused portion of the dungeons. His heart ached that he had to go to such extreme measures in order to keep his family safe. If Hermione was going to practically commit suicide trying to fight off Voldemort than he would not sit idly by and watch the love of his life die.

Hermione had been everything to Draco since that moment almost two years ago back at Grimmauld Place the summer before their seventh year when they had shared their first kiss. That summer changed everything for Draco but he never regretted any of his decisions, except perhaps this latest one. He wasn't sure what he was going to do without her, especially when it came to their little baby girl who Draco had really absolutely no idea how to take care of himself and was almost glad to be at Hogwarts where he had all the professors there to help him out and give him advice when he needed it. He knew that it was going to be tough but he also knew that it was something that he had to do to protect his family and he just prayed that Hermione would survive all this to come back to them.

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Hermione awoke with a splitting headache in the middle of a cold dark room. She tried to get up and move around to examine her surroundings only to find that she was bound to the floor by magical chains around her wrists and ankles. She suddenly heard an all too familiar raspy voice fill the room but she could not see the person to whom the voice belonged to in the darkness of the room.

"Welcome back young Mudblood. Did you really think that you could escape me? Did you honestly believe I'd allow you to find a way to destroy me? You have a lot to think about Mudblood but I will give you a bit of thought while you ponder your choice, not that you really have one." The raspy voice filled the room. "If you ever want to see your beloved traitor boyfriend or your filthy half-bred child alive again, I suggest you make the right decision and give me what I want."

With that final comment, Hermione heard a heavy door slam shut, shaking the walls of the tiny cold room she was in. She curled herself into a tight ball and cried herself to sleep, thinking about Draco and Alexis and wondering if she'd ever see her family again.

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The days went by and they turned into weeks which then turned into months. No one in the Order could explain what had happened to Hermione during their trip to Egypt. All they knew was that when everyone landed in the soft sand of the desert, Hermione was no where to be seen. The Order and even some ministry workers had launched a full scale search for her but had not even come up with a single lead. Many were beginning to give up hope of ever seeing their brown eyed friend again. Ron was taking everything especially hard thinking that within a time period of two short years he'd lost both of his best friends.

Six long months after Hermione's disappearance, Draco was also growing readily worried about his wife-to-be. It was now October and no one had seen or heard from Hermione since the last week of April when she had left Grimmauld Place with the others on the mission to Egypt. It was one cold day that Draco felt his life fall away when Minerva came down to their secret room to deliver some unsettling information. She handed him that morning's copy of the Daily Prophet and Draco sank to his knees as he read the words staring up at him from the page along with a toothy grinned picture of Hermione smiling up at him.

**Former Hogwarts Head Girl Found Dead on Egyptian Beach**

_**Late last night, two Egyptian vacationers came across an unusual site while visiting a popular beach. They came across the washed up body of what appears to be former Hogwarts Head Girl, Hermione Granger who was reported missing almost six months ago after leaving for a secret unknown mission with the Order of the Phoenix.**_

_**Hermione Granger leaves behind many loved ones who will forever remember her spirit and zest for life. Ron Weasley, youngest son of the new Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley, remembered many great adventures with his two best friends during their days of Hogwarts. Hermione was a member of what the wizarding world had dubbed the "Golden Trio" along with Ron Weasley and the late Harry Potter.**_

_**Also left behind by this heart wrenching discovery is Hermione's fiancé, Draco Malfoy and their now eight month old daughter Alexis.**_

_**Hermione will be missed by many and our condolences here at the Daily Prophet go out to her family and loved ones.**_

Draco felt his heart rip from his chest as if someone had literally dug it out with a very dull butter knife. He felt his entire world crash down around him and all he could think about was the fact that the last time he'd ever seen or spoken to Hermione it was during an argument and he hadn't even gotten a chance to apologize for everything that had happened and tell her that he loved her.

Back in the cold damp room that had become her lifetime prison, or so it felt, Hermione awoke groggily to another day, her entire body aching from the violent tortures that Voldemort's Death Eaters had preformed on her yet again the day before. Unknown to her, the rest of the wizarding world now believed her dead and no one be searching for her again. She hadn't given up hope yet though. She was sure, though not sure how yet, but positive that someday, somehow, she would get out of that prison and that Voldemort would pay dearly for what he has done to her and her loved ones. Hermione was already plotting her revenge.

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**_A/N: HEHEHEHE...Cliffhanger! HAHA dont you all just hate me now? Well so ends another exciting installment of the Destiny Series. Please make sure you all keep an eye out for part 3 entitled_ Long Road Home_...i know that this one wasnt exactly as great as Kindred Spirits but it was mostly a filler part...all questions will be answered in part 3 i promise!_**

**_Till next time, love to all!_**

**_Kai_**


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